I mean how could you not feel like you’d just had the crud kicked out of you: the rebel fleet had been scattered, flung to the far reaches of space like some toddler tossing a box of matches; Luke Skywalker had just had his rear-end handed to him by a relentless Darth Vader, losing a hand in the process, but possibly gaining a father; and Han Solo, that dashing, scruffy-looking, half-witted nerf-herder, was now a concrete slab on a one-way flight to Jabba the Hutt.
And if that weren’t enough, like we really needed salt poured on our open wounds, we would have to wait three flippin’ years to see how this all played out. It seemed like an eternity.
It’s pretty safe to say that my feelings were echoed by most Star Wars fans that glorious summer. It’s also a fair summation that the next and final chapter (so we thought) of George Lucas’ beloved space trilogy would ultimately go down as the most anticipated film of the entire decade.
Sure, we had Raiders of the Lost Ark and E.T. to keep us occupied the next two summers, but that third SW film never strayed far from our minds. We didn’t have the luxury of the Internet back then, watching the production process unfold before our eyes while the director provided a witty daily blog. No, we basically had to guess and debate how things were going to turn out for the next two and half years before we started receiving even a smidgen of information.
First, Kenner began teasing a mail-away action figure from the new film on cards for its Empire line in late 1982: Admiral Ackbar. He was a new hero, a red, squid-looking guy in a white pantsuit. He was all right. What really excited me, however, was that the mail-away blurb also included the title for the next chapter: Revenge of the Jedi. With that, like some burning-bush epiphany, the sun peeked through the clouds and we knew the wait was almost over.
Then came the much-publicized title change by the end of the year. Some fan had written a letter to George Lucas reminding him that a Jedi never seeks revenge. He actually took notice and a few focus groups later, changed the name to Return of the Jedi. No one really seemed to care, except Kenner who had to trash thousands of Revenge cards for its forthcoming line.
From there, another mail-away figure (Nien Nunb) was teased in early 1983. It wasn’t until March of that year, two months before its release date, that we finally started seeing images from the new film.
I was perusing the magazine aisle at a local Sav-on Drugs (now CVS for you younger readers) one Saturday afternoon and as I picked up the April issue of Starlog, there was a quartet of familiar faces staring back at me: Luke, Leia, Chewie and Han. Wait…Han? He’s not in Carbonite anymore; he’s in the cockpit of a ship with his old pals. I remember feeling relieved but strangely disappointed that that crucial little nugget was already out of the bag. Also included in that issue were shots of the Endor forest battle and Jabba’s Gamorrean Guard.
Somewhere around mid-April, Kenner released the initial wave of Jedi action figures in stores. The first one I grabbed was Luke in his Jedi Knight outfit. He was draped in black from head to toe (kind of like Johnny Cash), had a cool cloth cloak and…wait for it… a green lightsaber. The Jedi had indeed returned as far as I was concerned. Other intriguing figures on the pegs were the Emperor’s Royal Guard, Biker Scout and Lando Calrissian in Skiff Guard Disguise.
At last the magic day was at hand: May 25, 1983. It was a Wednesday, a school day, the last few weeks of sixth grade, but that didn't stop me from talking my ever-supportive mom into taking me and a buddy to the first showing, 9 or 10 AM as I recall. There was hardly anyone in the theater at that time so it felt like a private screening just for us. And while I enjoyed the film as a whole, I remember thinking it just wasn't as good as the first two. Maybe it was my age at the time, but the Ewoks, the second Death Star, they just felt kind of childish and unoriginal.
Disappointing or not, I still spent that summer collecting every Jedi action figure and accessory I could get my hands on. It was a Star Wars film after all.
While Return of the Jedi may have fallen short as a film, it still lived up to its hype as a box-office behemoth, grossing more than $250 million in its initial run and finishing the year as the number-one film of 1983.
30 years later, my feelings for Jedi have softened considerably. It's not so much the film I appreciate more, but the time. That special summer between the twilight of childhood and dawn of adolescence. Never again would I feel as free or sure of myself. If it takes an Ewok to bring those feelings back, so be it.
