Watched: Star Wars: Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

This one was always my least favorite as a kid, I think maybe because it's the end which means the adventure's over and also because when I was little I didn't really appreciate the nuance of the philosophical/moral battle happening between the emperor, Vader, and Luke in the last third of the film and I was a little tired of the interstellar dog fights. So basically, being a young and impressionable tot, I was there for Leia's gorgeous hair, the ewoks, the droids, and Han Solo. Everything in between was kind of a drag.

Now I do think it's pretty great, especially the escape from Jabba's palace and especially all of the philosophical jibber jabber in the last third. I enjoy it.

Ominous.

Robot torture, not cool.

Good guy Lando.

I did NOT realize as a kid just how insane Carrie Fisher's body was in this film. She is crazy thin. I mean obviously gorgeous but just, I get the whole nerd boys having a crush on her now. Also, rest in peace Carrie! You were a star and also as the only female of note in these movies you were feisty and flawed and human and great.

Bantha herd!

See, this is just an excellent example of Lucas's insistence of going back and changing things in the film to CGI where they didn't need it and where it in fact detracts from the storytelling or the imagery as a result. Because this is both distracting and it looks like shit.

It's weird to me now, watching these as an adult, just how condescending they are to this primitive species. They literally like pat them on the head and hold their hands like they're teddy bears. The whole thing, in hindsight, is kind of an uncomfortably simplistic take on the way that different species and their cultures would develop at different rates. But then I remind myself that it's a space opera meant primarily for kids and I let it go.

  

This is a great moment.

Fuck you, Lucas.

  

Goodbye gang! The next time we see you Lando won't be around and  Chewbacca will seem mysteriously ageless and of course the droids won't change much but the rest of you will all be significantly older less cheerful.

Watched: Star Wars: Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back

Hoth has always been one of my favorite planets from the original series. I just think it's cool and all the machinery they use on it is cool. Plus the fight with the AT-AT's was also one of my favorites, I don't really know why, maybe I just kind of liked that they were so clumsy. And as much as I like the Bantha's and as a kid I was certainly susceptible to the appeal of the Ewoks my most enduring favorite Star Wars creature (aside from Chewbacca, of course) are the tauntaun. That poor little tauntaun gives its life to keep Luke alive! That's true heroism. Anyway, WOW does this one get dark. Maybe no moment is quite as brutal as "Uncle Owen's singed skeleton laying in front of the family home" but it still gets psychologically dark. It's great.

This is a line that my brother and I still repeat to each other regularly.

Nerf herder is a great insult and this scene is only slightly diminished with the knowledge that Leia kisses the man she will later learn is her brother in order to prove a point to the man who will one day be the father of her treacherous, evil son. The Force Awakens spoilers!

The iconic images keep on coming.

  

AT-AT's!

  

Whomp whomp.

Such a great line.

Lando, also too cool. Although this is my least favorite Leia hair and I don't think she gets a whole lot to do in Cloud City. But she'll make up for it in the next movie.

There's another.

God, I love that shot! They did one similar in Rogue One, I think, or at least it looks similar from the trailer. I don't blame them. It's so cool looking.

Side note: Watching ANH and TESB in immediate succession really emphasizes just how different Mark Hammill's face looked after his accident. Like, it's still noticeably him because of the voice and the hair and they eyes yet the entire lower half of his face is just so weird and different.

Cool, just cool.

A much more subdued ending than the last time around, since Han is in carbonite and Vader is everybody's dad.