Here's What Happened To George Lucas's Revenge of The Jedi

Did you know Star Wars’s Return of Jedi originally had a different storyline, but it was changed at the last minute?
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⏱ TIMESTAMPS ⏱
0:00 Intro
0:20 The Ending
1:22 Title change
2:52 Wookies instead of Ewoks
4:25 Two Death Stars
5:13 Resurrection of Yoda and Kenobi
6:40 Luke Out on a Quest
7:41 Luke Becoming Dark
8:28 A Different Fate for Han
10:35 Outro

[@Onio397]

The wookies should've been the creatures living on endor instead of the ewoks tho

[@theguybehindyou4762]

Would have made the jungle fight watchable.

[@Butterandbacon]

It would make the Chewbacca defense more reasonable.

[@ApolloCDR]

The main reason I HATE ewoks!

[@patrickspiers4811]

It wouldn’t been Endor it would been kasheek the home world of the wookies we got in episode 3 years later

[@marcmooney9293]

Irvin kershner only directed the empire strikes back.

[@lloydshanahan154]

I hate to be the one playing fact checker here, but... your video is full of false information. 1. Irvan Kershner didn't return because it was legally impossible to bring him back due to the Directors guild suing him and Lucas back in 1980, and he felt like moving on from Star Wars anyway. Alot of this was due to Empire's production being quite the disaster Because Lucas's old producer (Gary Kurtz) was terrible at his job and lazy to boot, And both Lucas and Kershner had enough of him. 2. Ewoks were not made to sell toys, they were an allegory for why excessive progress is bad. They are meant to be the underestimated creature no one takes seriously but end up helping the heroes conquer the great evil in the end. In other words, its the same ironic story telling Lucas did with Yoda. As for why they replaced Wookie's, it was because the Wookies were established as an advanced culture by that point and Lucas wanted a primitive society to fight the Stormtroopers in the climax. Lucas couldn't retcon the Wookies status que for this, because it would have gone against his backstory for Han. 3. Luke was never meant to turn to the dark side, That was just a joke Lucas told during the story meeting. 4. Vader was always meant to die, even in 77 there was no plan for him to live past the third film. Kurtz was lying when he staid that Vader would live into the fourth film. 5. Han was never meant to die in Jedi. It's true Harrison Ford wanted it, but it was NOT something the creative heads agreed with him on (including Lawrence Kasden). In fact, he was originally going to be the main character in George Lucas's original version of episode 7, and the film would be about Han meeting his dad. And that whole thing with Lucas thinking Han's death would hurt the sales of Star Wars toys is especially false. That was just an assumption on Harrison Ford's part, the real reason Lucas didn't want Han to die was because he felt it was un-necessary and it would have gone against the feel-good themes of the movie. 6. Lawernce Kasden didn't push for Han to get killed off at all. He actually wanted Luke to die. And at various points he wanted Lando to die too, and eventually is quarrelling with Lucas resulted in both of them deciding to kill off Yoda. 7. it's true Yoda and Obi-Wan were going to return to life, but they were originally intend to return to life in the flesh as well to join the Ewok celebration. if anything, Jedi's ending was originally intended to be more sugar-coated then the ending we got, NOT darker.

[@LuckyBastardProd]

Kurtz wasn’t lazy nor did Irvin Kershner dislike him, Kurtz fought for Kersh to have his way with the slow direction. Fisher had issues with Kurtz but she was usually on drugs so take it for what that’s worth. The problem is Empire was all on Lucas’ dime and Lucas was panicking so he fired him and brought in bean counter Howard Kazanjian (on Raiders Lucas told Spielberg “hey, this is my money so don’t f*ck around like you always do.” Remember every film until Raiders the ‘berg went over schedule and way over budget). Had Kurtz stayed on, Jedi would’ve been much better as he was the one that saw the direction the films were going i.e. selling toys. He wanted Han to die and the original ending of Luke walking away alone like in The Serarchers, more of a somber end as opposed to the family portrait that ends it now. Spielberg is the one, I believe, that suggested Han not die, he was to be director but couldn’t because of the whole guild issue and the ‘berg is a studio goon and not an indie maverick like Lucas.

[@lloydshanahan154]

@@LuckyBastardProd Nope, you got that backwards. It was Kirshner that sided with Lucas once he found out his directing was hogging up Lucas's money to the point where his new film company was on the verge of bankruptcy (They even got in trouble with the Bank of Boston due to Kurtz illegally pulling a five-thousand-dollar loan just to get production to continue longer). both Kershner and Kurtz had a tendency to be emotionally distant from one another. And Kurtz had no creative input on the films (outside of organizing sets and extras), he was really just the talent scout that handled the production logistics. He was a Yes-Man if anything. And funny enough, Lucas said "he never says no" as a negative back in the 80s. In fact, he was against quite a bit of the major plot elements that made Empire a classic. The big one being the famous cliff hanger ending where the plot elements were un-resolved. And he didn't request any of that "Somber" stuff for Jedi's ending, because he wasn't working for Lucasfilm anymore once Jedi entered production. Kurtz left Lucasfilm in March 1980, Lucas didn't start writing Jedi's first outline until July 1980. The gapping hole in your statement is this. How could he have made those request for Jedi, if he was "fired" before the previous film's production ended? Esspeially when you take into account that Kurtz stated that he left in the summer of 1981, which is certainly not true either. Nether of those statements on how he left are true. Kurtz requested to leave Lucasfilm on December 11th 1979 (he wrote a letter and everything), because he didn't want to take responsibility for the production problems he was causing. Lucas didn't grant it until production was finished. probably because he didn't want any bad press breaking out. Plus, Lucas planned for Kazanjian to replace Kurtz as early as 1977, and Kurtz only stayed because Kurtz guilt tripped Lucas into letting him stay. And ironically Kazanjian did a lot of the work Kurtz was supposed to be doing even before Lucas started taking over principle photography. A lot of the Making-of books and biographies have been consistent with this info. Also, Howard Kazanjian is no "Bean Counter" he's the finest Assistant Director of his generation, he fly's circles around Gary Kurtz.

[@LuckyBastardProd]

@@lloydshanahan154 my info comes from Rizler’s book on Empire. Assistant Director, his last film he was assistant on was Family Plot and he only did that on a few films and most of his producing after Jedi is crap. I also ever said he “requested” a somber ending I said he prefered it as thats how Lucas had talked about it. He even mentions that in the doc on the discs. At the end of the day Lucas with Kurtz is better than without.

[@lloydshanahan154]

@@LuckyBastardProd That's my source too. In addition to many others. (This is how I know your facts are wrong) And trust me, the author of that book agrees with me on my statement on Kazanjian. Kazanjian did many other films before joining Lucas in 77 with Hitchcock's letter of recommendation. Kurtz on the other hand is a fraud. Because there's a difference between being educated on skill and putting skill into practice. He only says stuff that certain fans want to hear, he doesn't speak the truth.

[@SG-jq5vt]

I stopped watching the video after seeing this comment 😂

[@olympicnut]

I like some of the ideas, but not Han's death or Luke going to the Dark Side.

[@candoentertainment9118]

Irvin kirschner only directed Empire. George Lucas directed Star Wars '77.

[@gregr3720]

The director of The Empire Strikes Back is Irwin Kershner, not Irvine.

[@cjraymond8827]

Most of the changes, including the title, were for the better (other than subbing Ewoks for Wookies). Obi-Wan and Yoda coming in to save the day would destroy the hero's journey. Luke needed to win on his own. But they never should have made Leia his sister.

[@plowe6751]

It's a horrible thing when the story changes due to merchandising.

[@valthenvega2434]

It was a very 20th century (literally) thing. Happened to Star Wars, Marvel, Batman, and He-Man, among many other franchises. To this modern day Cartoon Network has been one of the biggest offenders on it, frequently cutting off promising shows early on just because they didn’t have toys to sell

[@plowe6751]

@@valthenvega2434 The best stories are the ones that teach a moral. Now, the best stories are the ones that sell merchandise.

[@jameswarner5878]

If this says that George was going to have Luke take up the mantle of Darth Vader you are wrong. It was just one of the many ideas tossed around at the time but never what was going to happen.

[@scottmcclary594]

I dont know where luke going dark came from but the original ending had luke telling Leia he needed to go find his sister that she was still out there and leaving to go find her, there was also supposed to be a love triangle between Han luke and Leia and a possible pregnancy because there had been a definitive 3 to five years between Empire and Jedi!

[@clarity2199]

George made good decisions on that. None of those other options sounded good to me.

[@theguybehindyou4762]

A wookie uprising on Kashyyk would have been far more epic than rabid teddy bears.

[@andylikesstuffchannel]

That why Empire is the best it's subtle and George was busy

[@valthenvega2434]

Dude, did you use ChatGPT for this?? The narrated script is uncomfortably detailed and loaded with adjectives where it shouldn’t be, it’s like if you just put on the facts in the prompt and then articulated it, this doesn’t sound human at all

[@wallyman292]

". . . That continues to unfold in the franchise today"???? You gotta be kidding me!!! In what sense??? Disney absolutely DESTROYED the franchise with the sequels! Regardless, I wish you well on your channel's success! ;)

[@leonardvicari2857]

I had a feeling Leia wasn't Luke's sister and there was a female character that was cut out

[@MiCenaHitmanFan1]

I’m fairly certain that “Revenge of the Jedi” was actually the 2nd title, and not the first. It was Return, then Revenge and then back to Return. It was always about the redemption of Anakin Skywalker, or him RETURNing back to the light. It wasn’t in reference to Luke becoming a Jedi Knight, like many originally thought.

[@user-tg3og3bi7c]

Because they gave in to Harrison Ford's demand that Han Solo die the franchises are ruined forever. A good actor doesn't mean he always had a good idea. He may be good in acting but poor business side.

[@eyeofthescar6890]

In the novelation Yoda and Anikan never met.

[@Doctor_Eightball]

"Now I am Vader"

[@abstraction6212]

thank goodness Lucas changed the plot up, as cool as this plot wouldve flopped and backlash would be insurmountable and it wouldve killed the whole franchise.

[@andrewgarner734]

You obviously didnt pay much attention to A New Hope,Luke had already experienced shooting small rodents with his T16 before his assault on the death star,you really need to do your reserch more

[@peterclarke2471]

Nah while Return Of Jedi isn’t perfect it’s lot better as it is as makes other films better so trilogy is masterpiece now

[@doqas]

Revenge is not the Jedi way

[@Doctor_Eightball]

I am no Jedi.

[@user-kt3tm6mi1w]

Also narrator when starwars the return of the jedi first premiere at 1983 a critic her name joyce j persco starwars became too much like disney as meaning the Ewoks, too much disney yes a lot backlash especially where i worked a particular supervisor said they F.. it up

[@petelake7373]

Get over it nerds. It's a great movie, you know it.

[@user-kt3tm6mi1w]

Hey narrator, to let you know george lucas did not create starwars all he did take information and put a spin on term jedi is the remix the orginal was djedi from the myths if ancient Egyptian in stade of the light sabor its called a djed it had supposed magic powers you even see this on the walls in ancient eygtian for those who does not know this information and this fan is trying to get attention research look it from telekinesis all of force its called chi energy its all there its NOT A FANTASY

[@user-zy2yv5ce9x]

I would love to see Luke turn dark

[@mikedegarmo3203]

This guy CLEARLY isn't as familiar with the material as he should be. 🤣