Question about Return of the Jedi

[Aelia Jusa]

So I was watching Return of the Jedi yesterday. And I'm wondering about the part where they rescue Han - was it all an elaborate plan designed to culminate at the sail barge, or was each attempt meant to be successful in itself?

Now obviously Lando went there earlier and planted himself, and I doubt they thought that Jabba would take the bargain of the droids for Han. Clearly Luke wouldn't have wanted to lose them anyway since R2 had his light saber. But when Leia went, and she unfroze Han, what if she had managed to get him out without being spotted? What would they have done then, had another elaborate plan to save Chewie and the droids? Or maybe Luke planned to finish it when he first arrived but didn't factor in the pit thingy. Although he didn't have his light saber. So perhaps not.

[Tancred]

Well, you'll notice Leia doesn't seem too fazed when she's captured. In fact, it's Han who asks 'what's that?' when they hear Jabba laugh. Leia goes along gamely, teling Jabba 'we have powerful friends. You're going to regret this.' which might just be a rehearsed line. [img]smile.gif[/img] After all, if the good guys had meant this attempt to be successful, why isn't Lando helping?

The rancor pit fight thing does seem to get Luke worried. Think back to the old military adage that 'no plan ever survives contact with the enemy.' Luke appears desperate and wide-eyed during his battle with the Rancor, but after that he seems somewhat more at ease, despite the fact that there's every possibility he's about to be killed anyway. I think he must have gone there with the idea of doing something serious to provoke Jabba into an over-the-top style execution. Even though he didn't have any idea what he was going to do, killing that Rancor worked nicely.

Leia seems anxious during the trip on the sail barge, but she doesn't seem particularly weepy or worried - just nervous. She's watching for a signal, maybe? After all, she doesn't try to run for it or escape or try to get to the deck to link up with the other heroes - she cripples the sail barge's interior electronics and then tries to kill Jabba.

I'm forced to conclude it's all a cunning plan.

[Aelia Jusa]

Yes although Leia shutting off the lights and taking out Jabba could have just been her improvising, not necessarily under Luke's instructions to 'kill Jabba while I use my suction boots to scramble up the side of the sail barge' . She really had to do something or she wouldn't have been able to escape since she was chained to him and there were all his guards around. How did Lando get on the speeder with Han and Luke anyway? He must have done some fancy sucking up while he was there

There seems to be a lot of luck involved is all. R2 didn't necessarily have to end up on the sail barge for one thing! That was just luck, and if he hadn't, Luke wouldn't have had his light saber at all!

Does anyone else think Luke got his chin cleft surgically enhanced between Empire and Jedi?

[ 05-31-2003, 06:23 PM: Message edited by: Aelia Jusa ]

[Tancred]

Originally posted by Aelia Jusa: Does anyone else think Luke got his chin cleft surgically enhanced between Empire and Jedi?

Car accident, I think... (sorry - too serious! [img]smile.gif[/img] )

And here's a thought - what if there was a lot more background to this than we realised? It's possible, after all, that Lando sabotaged the droid that served drinks on Jabba's barge right before Artoo showed up...

[ 05-31-2003, 07:27 PM: Message edited by: Tancred ]

[Azred]

<font color = lightgreen>Their original plan was to sneak in, free Han, and sneak out before Jabba could stop them. However, when this didn't go according to plan, they had to improvise.

Everything else is simply a "deus ex machina" plot device. [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img] </font>

[Morgeruat]

Some of Timothy Zhan's Heir to the Empire books give a nice piece of additional background info, but doesn't really answer your question so I'll just advise you to read them if you haven't already.

[Rimjaw]

Originally posted by Tancred: </font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by Aelia Jusa: Does anyone else think Luke got his chin cleft surgically enhanced between Empire and Jedi?

Car accident, I think... (sorry - too serious! [img]smile.gif[/img] )

And here's a thought - what if there was a lot more background to this than we realised? It's possible, after all, that Lando sabotaged the droid that served drinks on Jabba's barge right before Artoo showed up... </font>[/QUOTE]He was in a car accident in which he injured his face badly enough to warrent plastic surgery.

[Aelia Jusa]

Originally posted by Azred: <font color = lightgreen>Their original plan was to sneak in, free Han, and sneak out before Jabba could stop them. However, when this didn't go according to plan, they had to improvise. Everything else is simply a "deus ex machina" plot device. [img]graemlins/petard.gif[/img] </font>

Yeah see that's what I thought, but what about the droids and Chewie then? Just leave them there? And Luke's light saber? Though he could have made another one I suppose.

[Azred]

<font color = lightgreen>Well, the droids are pretty much useless...they might as well have left them there. They would have freed Chewbacca, though. And yes, lightsabers are relatively easily replaced.</font>

<font face="COMIC Sans MS" size="3" color="#7c9bc4">
I think everyone missed the most obvious answer here...in the second movie, you see Luke start to come into his jedi powers..he starts to see flashes of what might be...I believe that by the time Jedi takes place he is able to some degree see events and/or predict to a limited extent as to how they will go.
"Dificult it is to see, always in motion the future is.." etc and all that kinda stuff. </font>

[ 06-03-2003, 09:50 AM: Message edited by: MagiK ]