The World of Star Wars

Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

Crawler for Return of the Jedi

Luke Skywalker has returned to his home planet of Tatooine in an attempt to rescue his friend Han Solo from the clutches of the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt.

Little does Luke know that the GALACTIC EMPIRE has secretly begun construction on a new armored space station even more powerful than the first dreaded Death Star.

When completed, this ultimate weapon will spell certain doom for the small band of rebels struggling to restore freedom to the galaxy...

Summary for Return of the Jedi

One by one, Lando Calrissian, Leia Organa, Chewbacca, C-3P0, and R2-D2 infiltrate Jabba the Hutt's stronghold. Finally, Luke Skywalker arrives to negotiate with Jabba for Han Solo's release, but Jabba refuses to negotiate and he takes Luke prisoner. Still undetected, Leia frees Han from the carbonite, but Jabba prevents their escape. He takes his prisoners to the Carkoon pit, to feed them to the legendary Sarlacc, whose digestive system keeps its prey alive for a thousand years. Luke frees himself and R2-D2 returns his light saber to him. Lando and the others join in a desperate fight which leaves Boba Fett trapped in the Sarlacc, and Jabba and all his minions dead.

While most of the group rejoins the Rebel Alliance fleet in deep space, Luke returns to Dagobah to complete his training as a Jedi. There he finds that Yoda has entered the twilight of his life, and soon Yoda breathes his last, but not before confirming that Darth Vader is indeed Anakin Skywalker and disclosing that there is yet another Skywalker. Luke confronts Ben Kenobi's spirit and asks him hard questions about his family. Luke realizes that Leia is his twin sister. Ben cautions Luke to hide his knowledge and his feelings, lest the emperor take advantage of them.

Mon Mothma, leader of the rebellion, assembles her high command and informs them that a new Death Star is being built. More importantly, the emperor himself is overseeing the final phases of construction. The alliance formulates a plan to destroy the new Death Star before it is finished, and hopefully removing the emperor as well. Han Solo accepts a commission as a general, and he is assigned the task of leading a strike force to disable the shield generator that protects the new Death Star. Lando Calrissian is also commissioned as a general, and he is assigned the task of leading a direct assault on the new Death Star. Luke arrives just in time to volunteer to go with Han.

Han's team uses a captured imperial shuttle to approach the forest moon of Endor, around which the Death Star is orbiting. Luke senses Vader's presence, and Vader senses Luke's. Luke realizes that he is endangering the mission too late. Vader allows the shuttle to land on the moon and the emperor orders him to capture Luke.

Han's team encounters storm trooper patrols. Luke and Leia become separated from the main group during the fighting. Luke rejoins Han, who sends most of the team on to the staging area for the mission. Leia meets Wicket, and Ewok warrior whose people are hiding from the storm troopers. Han, Chewbacca, Luke, and the droids are captured by the Ewoks while searching for Leia. The Ewoks plan to eat Han, Chewbacca, and Luke, but decide that C-3P0 is a god. Luke uses his Jedi powers to persuade the Ewoks to free the party.

C-3P0 tells the Ewoks about the rebellion and the adventures that Luke, Han, and Leia have experienced together. The Ewoks adopt them into the tribe and join the rebel alliance. But Luke slips away from the main gathering. When Leia follows him, Luke reveals their true relationship to each other and to Vader. He leaves Leia with Han and the Ewoks while he goes to confront Vader.

Luke surrenders to an imperial patrol, who turn him over to Darth Vader. Vader is impressed with Luke's growth in the Jedi arts. He takes Luke up to the Death Star to meet the emperor. Han rejoins his strike force and as they approach the bunker controlling the shield generator, the Ewoks reveal a back door. But in examining the rear entrance, Han sees it is heavily guarded and realizes the empire has been expecting his strike force all along. At that moment, the Ewoks launch an attack against the imperial forces and draw off most of them.

The emperor cajoles Luke into anger, hoping to turn him to the dark side of the Force. He reveals that the entire rebel alliance is moving into a carefully laid trap, as the Death Star is actually fully operational, though its infrastructure is incomplete. Luke watches helplessly as the rebel fleet arrives from hyperspace and positions itself to attack the Death Star. Lando's strike force approaches the space station but at the last moment Lando realizes the shield is still active.

The imperial fleet moves in to engage the rebel ships, and the Death Star fires upon one of the larger rebel cruisers, destroying it instantly. Admiral Akhbar, commander of the fleet, orders a retreat, but Lando persuades him to wait just a little longer. The rebel ships move in closer to the imperial ships, where the Death Star cannot fire upon them.

The battle on Endor goes heavily against the Ewoks at first, but as the imperial troops pursue the Ewoks into the forest, they begin falling into traps. Through sheer weight of numbers the Ewoks overpower most of the troops. Chewbacca captures an All Terrain Scout Transport (2-man walker) and uses it to take out other walkers. Han then uses the walker's comm system to trick the bunker garrison into opening their doors.

Han's team destroys the bunker and the shield generator. Lando's team flies into the Death Star to attack its power core. Inside the Death Star, Luke battles with Darth Vader and the emperor. As the emperor had tried to turn Luke to the dark side, Luke has been striving to persuade Vader to return to the light side of the force. When all seems lost, and the emperor is about to kill Luke, Vader switches sides once again, throwing the emperor to his death. But Vader is himself mortally poisoned by radiation.

Luke escapes from the Death Star with Vader's body just before it explodes. Later, while the rebel alliance celebrates their victory with the Ewoks, Luke gives his father a Jedi funeral. He sees the spirits of Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Yoda watching over the celebration as the rest of the galaxy rejoices in the news of the emperor's death.

Cast for Return of the Jedi
Mark Hamill	Luke Skywalker
Harrison Ford	Han Solo
Carrie Fisher	Princess Leia Organa
Billy Dee Williams	Lando Calrissian
Anthony Daniels	C-3PO
Peter Mayhew	Chewbacca
Ian McDiarmid	The Emperor Palpatine
Sebastian Shaw	Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader's face
Frank Oz	Yoda (voice)
James Earl Jones	Darth Vader (voice)
David Prowse	Darth Vader
Alec Guinness	Obi-Wan Kenobi
Kenny Baker	R2-D2/Paploo
Michael Pennington	Moff Jerjerrod
Kenneth Colley	Adm. Piett
Michael Carter	Bib Fortuna
Denis Lawson	Wedge Antilles
Timothy M. Rose	Adm. Ackbar
Dermot Crowley	Gen. Crix Madine
Caroline Blakiston	Mon Mothma
Warwick Davis	Wicket
Jeremy Bulloch	Boba Fett
Femi Taylor	Oola
Annie Arbogast	Sy Snootles
Claire Davenport	Fat dancer
Jack Purvis	Teebo
Mike Edmonds	Logray/Jabba Puppeteer
Jane Busby	Chief Chirpa
Malcolm Dixon	Ewok warrior
Mike Cottrell	Ewok warrior
Nicholas Read	Nicki/Ewok (as Nicki Reade)
Adam Bareham	Stardestroyer controller #1
Jonathan Oliver	Stardestroyer controller #2
Pip Miller	Stardestroyer captain #1
Tom Mannion	Stardestroyer captain #2
Toby Philpott	Jabba Puppeteer
David Alan Barclay	Jabba Puppeteer (as David Barclay)
Margo Apostolos	Ewok
Ray Armstrong	Ewok
Eileen Baker	Ewok
Michael Henbury Ballan	Ewok (as Michael H. Ballan)
Bobby Bell	Ewok
Patty Bell	Ewok
Alan Bennett	Ewok
Sarah Bennett	Ewok
Pamela Betts	Ewok
Danny Blackner	Ewok
Linda Bowley	Ewok
Peter Burroughs	Ewok
Debbie Lee Carrington	Ewok
Maureen Charlton	Ewok
Willie Coppen	Ewok
Sadie Corre	Ewok (as Sadie Corrie)
Tony Cox	Ewok
John Cumming	Ewok
Jean D'Agostino	Ewok
Luis De Jesus	Ewok
Debbie Dixon	Ewok
Margarita Fernández	Ewok
Phil Fondacaro	Ewok
Sal Fondacaro	Ewok
Tony Friel	Ewok
Daniel Frishman	Ewok
John Ghavan	Ewok (as John Gavam)
Michael Gilden	Ewok
Paul Grant	Ewok
Lydia Green	Ewok
Lars Green	Ewok
Pam Grizz	Ewok
Andrew Herd	Ewok
J.J. Jackson	Ewok
Richard Jones	Ewok
Trevor Jones	Ewok
Glynn Jones	Ewok
Karen Lay	Ewok
John Lummiss	Ewok
Nancy MacLean	Ewok
Peter Mandell	Ewok
Carole Morris	Ewok
Stacy Nicholls	Ewok
Chris Nunn	Ewok
Barbara O'Laughlin	Ewok
Brian Orenstein	Ewok
Harrell Parker Jr.	Ewok
John Pedrick	Ewok
April Perkins	Ewok
Ronnie Phillips	Ewok
Katie Purvis	Ewok
Carol Read	Ewok
Diana Reynolds	Ewok
Daniel Rodgers	Ewok
Chris Romano	Ewok
Dean Shackelford	Ewok
Kiran Shah	Ewok
Felix Silla	Ewok
Linda Spriggs	Ewok
Gerald Staddon	Ewok
Josephine Staddon	Ewok
Kevin Thompson	Ewok
Kendra Wall	Ewok
Brian Wheeler	Ewok/Jawa
Butch Wilhelm	Ewok
Dalyn Chew	Jedi Rocks dancer (special edition)
Celia Fushille-Burke	Jedi Rocks dancer (special edition)
Mercedes Ngoh	Jedi Rocks dancer (special edition)
Jennifer Jaffe	Jedi Rocks dancer (special edition)
John Altman	Rebel pilot
Erik Bauersfeld	Bib Fortuna (voice)
Dickey Beer	Barada/Stormtrooper/Biker scout
Don Bies	Barquin D'an/Boba Fett (special edition)
Richard Bonehill	Stormtrooper/Nien Nunb/Mon Calamarie/Ree Yees/Mosep/z-winged pilot/tie pilot
Paul Brooke	Malakili (Rancor Keeper)
Ben Burtt	'Freeze' officer in Endor bunker
Peter Diamond	Gamorrean guard
Ernie Fosselius	Malakili (Rancor Keeper)/Giran (voice)
Isaac Grand	Gamorrean guard
Nelson Hall	Doda Bodonawieedo/Boba Fett (special edition)
Barrie Holland	Lt. Renz (Imperial officer in bunker)
Gerald Home	Tessek Squid Head/Mon Calamari Officer
Larin Lahr	GONK droid
Swim Lee	Hoover
Richard Marquand	Maj. Marquand (AT-ST driver)/EV-9D9 (voice)
Hilton McRae	Arvel Crynyd
George Miller	Gamorrean guard
Mike Quinn	Nien Nunb/Ree-Yees/Sy Snootles/Yoda/Wol Cabbashite
Barry Robertson	Gamorrean guard
Deep Roy	Droopy McCool
Tony Star	Gamorrean guard
Robert Watts	Lt. Watts (AT-ST driver)
Pat Welsh	Boushh (voice)
Paul Weston	Nik Fo/Vedain (Sand Skiff pilot)
Simon Williamson	Max Rebo

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