Return of the Jedi Books

Imagine Star Wars being sucked into a Japanese comic book. Yeah, it sounds pretty balistic, but imagine a Japanese Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and even Jabba the Hutt. This has got to be one of my favorite comics for this series yet! This book features the fight with Luke and the rancor and the fight at the Pit of Carcoon. Truly a great read! -Sideus

Just like the New Hope and ESB series, this is a great start of Jedi. Great art, and love the word for word script. More of the same, but since I loved the first ones, I loved this one.

Great conclusion to the original trilogy. This installment ties together most of the loose ends from the original trilogy and leads into the subsequent series books.

In 1981 NPR in the United States created the Star Wars radio drama, and several years followed and then Empire Strikes Back were also released.
To many, including me, it was a fantastic addition to the films, expanding knowledge and scenes. The acting was good, if sometimes patchy, but it was handled well.

Many years passed until Return of the Jedi (ROTJ from here on) was released. Now whereas the previous two films had been converted to radio in 13 and 10 episodes ROTJ was done in just 6. Once the titles are taken away this is about the same as the movie, so as can be see there is not much room to add things.

There are some added scenes, such as Luke creating his lightsabre, and Palpatine's dispatch of Vader to Endor, but these are minor additions at best.

Perhaps the greatest problem with the radio drama from my limited experience is describing action. So characters have to keep saying what they are doing, talking to themselves or another person. In the first two adaptions this was handled quite well, but in ROTJ it is frankly a mess. In the Rancor pit for instance Luke is discussing his situation with characters way above while locked in mortal combat. Other situations such as the sail barge battle made me laugh. This part is not handled well at all, and makes the listener lose focus.

The acting is also hit and miss. Joshua Fardon, as another reviewer mentioned, is not mature sounding enough to do Luke the Jedi Knight, sounding more like he's trying to follow Mark Hamil's lead.
The Emperor, played by Paul Hecht, has degenerated into a cackling maniac, and Perry King's Han Solo is still pretty much the same as always, take that how you will.

Overall, I think that ROTJ is a good investment for SW collectors, but it really adds nothing new to the story that wasn't there already, unlike the previous two adaptions.

Compared to NPR's expanded adaptations of Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back, their Return of the Jedi radio drama is anemic. Where the previous shows had more than 10 episodes, this one clocks in at a meager 6. At roughly 20 minutes per episode the length here is really no different than the movie's itself. Very little is added to the story, and what is added brings nothing special to the plot. Mark Hamill's replacement as Luke is dull and even wimpier. The biggest disappointment is how the climactic battle scenes between the Rebel and Imperial fleets and Luke, Darth Vader, and the Emperor are rushed, filling less than two full episodes.

Not a terrible deal for what I paid, but it could have been a much better conclusion to the first trilogy.

Return of the Jedi is, of course, one of the foundation stories in the Star Wars saga. The film is a classic loved by millions of fans. How then does an author attempt to put the story into words after the fact? I do not envy anyone trying to write novelizations of the first three films. You have to stay with the facts of the film, but you want to expand the reader's understanding of the action and further develop the characters. Not an easy task by any means. Whatever you add to the story that was not in the film is going to upset somebody, no matter how well it fits in.

So, keeping that in mind, Mr. Kahn deserves a tremendous amount of credit for his efforts on the book. The bones of the story are the same. Han Solo is rescued from the clutches of the evil Jabba the Hutt. Luke returns to Dagobah to learn key information from the dying Yoda. The rebels attack the Death Star. Luke faces Vader and Palpatine on the Death Star and wins. The Rebel forces triumph with a lot of help from the Ewoks and everything ends happily. Clearly all these events are told well in the book, and it is great fun to relive them on the printed page.

My only problem with the book is that some of Mr. Kahn's writing goes too far. He is trying to get the reader to understand the thought processes of a few of the major characters, but I'm not sure he succeeds. One example - When Leia is following Wicket to the Ewok camp on the forest moon of Endor, she casts her mind adrift for a while. She then ponders the gargantuan trees, the smallness of the Ewoks, her smallness when compared to the trees, and her loneliness and confusion being a part of all that. "She felt like a tiny, creative spark, dancing about in the fires of life...dancing behind a furtive, pudgy, midget bear, who kept beckoning her deeper into the woods." I think some judicious editing could have improved sections of the book. Even so, the book is a must-read, just as the film is a must-see. Don't miss either one of them.

Yes, Luke, he was your father. That makes the whole sister thing just a little bit on the squicky side, doesn't it?

Anyway, we find out Han Solo is still cool, Darth Vader isn't stupid, the Emperor is ugly, and no Ewoks bleed when they die.

Throw in some space battles and some force cheese at the end.

This is the first book in a new YJK trilogy, Under Black Sun, which will conclude (and had already done so) the Young Jedi Knights books. Ah yes, all good things must come to an end. But if this is any indication, it's goin' out with bang. It starts with Han and his kids going to Ord Mantell (where Han and Leia where almost captured by a pair of bounty hunters over twenty year before.) Han is there to judge a Blockade Runner race, and on the pace lap, the Falcon is nearly blown to space dust by a minefield planted by Black Sun. Anakin takes a piece of the mines to analyze it. Enter Anja Gallandro, however, and things get hot. She takes the piece of the mine, and faces down Han, who supposedly killed her father during his adventures twenty-five years before. Zekk, Tenel Ka, and Lowie enter the Lightning Rod in the race, and the YJK are reunited. Anja challenges Han to go to her war-torn planet, Anobis, where the farmers and miners are constantly at war, blaming each other for the conflict. The kids get split between the mining camps and the farming village, but are reunited and are able to sow the seeds of peace between the warring groups. Anja returns with the YJK to Yavin 4 to see if she had any Force potential, and the book concludes. The authors leave some interesting loose ends to tie up, which are drawn into neat little bow-ties at the end, except for a couple ;-) See my Crisis on Crystal Reef if you *really* don't get it.

I liked this book, but I got mad when Jacen and Zekk hung up on Tenel Ka and Jaina. It was so evil, I almost cried. In the next book, they kind of get back on track again, but most of the main problem revolved around Jacen. Zekk is only crushing on Anja for like, half a day, and after they set off to Anobis, he seems to think "Whoa, wait a minute, what the h*** am I doing?"
Jacen is, as usual, stuck in his own little world on the other side of the rainbow and you have to take a unicorn to get there. Of course, they don't exist, so he is completely out of it. Welcome to the real world, Jacen Solo. Now Jaina, she's more practical.

Part of what fascinated me about this book right from the beginning was that all the kids, while still in character, seemed way older, and supposedly only a few months had passed between The Emperor's Plague and this book. It was an extremly well written book, with a well defined, understandable plot. In it, Jacen and Jaina and Anakin all go on a short vacation with their Dad (Han of course) to go and check out a really cool race on Ord Mantell. Once they get there they meet Anja Gallandro, a girl who hates Han because she believes he murdered her father. She plays on his guilt, and somehow convinces him to go try to right a bloody civil war on her home planet. Through an interesting chain of events they meet back up with there other friends (big surpise), as well as Anja who by the way is not only working for some evil smuggler guy, but also is addicted to some kind of drug. I also find it very interesting that all through this whole series Jacen is hung up on Tenel Ka, and now the instant some other pretty girl comes into the picture, he instantly forgets she ever even existed, and I sense the same thing beginning to happen to Zekk and Jaina too. This only serves even more to convince me that these budding relationships were silly to begin with, though I must admit I always enjoyed Jacen and Tenel Ka. As for Anja herself, well, she was cool and all but I found myself not really liking her much, and I just couldn't really care about her like I could the other characters. She just seemed more like a glorified and somewhat twisted version of an early Mara Jade to me. Another thing that bothered me was that even though Anakin was with them throughout the whole book, he was practicly ignored and it seemed as if they somehow forgot about him at some points. This was somewhat irritating because Anakin has always been my favorite of the Solo children. Besides those minor details though, this was an exellent book. I also think it is cool that a Star Wars book can deal with serious issues such as drug adiction. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves Star Wars, though it will probably make more sense if you have read the previous 11 first.

The rest of the series is really awesome but since the lately its been more about Jaina/Zekk and Jason/Tenel Ka's infatuations with each other. It'd be better if they just had more of the action than the mushy falling in love stuff. It is science fiction after all.

This was not a good start to a new trilogy and the other two books that followed were sub-par compared to the previous Young Jedi Knight books. Something felt off I don't know if it was the writing, the plot, or even the charactors but it just didn't flow as well as the previous books.

This is a great book, but it doesn't have the descriptions for the artwork that the Episode 1 edition had. Putting the script in no doubt took up the space required to have the descriptions in. Still, the art is amazing and I am overwhelmed every time I look at one of these books. If you are a die-hard Star Wars fan, or are even curious about these movies, the "Art of.." series is great and a must-have.

If you enjoy seeing how the classic stories developed, this is definately going to be a book you wont regret getting, and is a MUST for your collection, allong with the other two art books.

This was an awesome book if you have any arguments shove it up your @$

I really give this book 3 and a half stars only for the artwork.

Primarily, this book is rather disappointing. The pictures, and artwork are great, and I must say it is quite amazing to see the matte paintings that were used in the film. The book contains numerous paintings, sketches, and pictures, but they are very poorly organized. I often found that if I saw a picture I liked and wanted to look at it again, I would have to literally flip through almost every page to find it again. The pictures aren't organized into "sections" as were the ones in THE ART OF THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. But that is because the script for the movie is included in this book.

The script takes up a lot of space, but is often spaced apart by maybe 2-3 pages of artwork. So for example, once you're done reading the portion of script on page 9, you'd have to skip up to page 12 to continue reading it. It ruins the continuity of the script, but that is not that much of a deal. The script is nice to have, but then again, why would you really want the script? And besides that, why would you find a script in an art book to begin with?

Returning to the pictures, the main disappointment is the lack of descriptions for the artwork. They have little sentences like: ABOVE RIGHT, painting done by Ralph McQuarrie, and so on, but I had expected more descriptions, and rightfully so because this is an art book...isn't it?

If you are interested in the art AND the script, then you should get it. But keep in mind that there aren't many descriptions for the pictures. In my opinion, this book is a clash of script and fabulous art, and the script doesn't allow for the splendour of the artwork to come out in its full "capacity". But I don't regret getting this book simply because of the artwork, and really, this is the only book out there that has THE ART OF RETURN OF THE JEDI.

In brief, this is NOT an "Art of" book. It's a script with a lot of pretty pictures. I can buy the script in several other different formats, but this is the only chance for me to find anything out about the artwork, and this book simply does not do it. Lucasfilm seems to alternate between so-called "Art of" books with the script shoved in (New Hope, Jedi), and actual, quality ART books (Phantom Menace, Empire) that recognize that the script can be found elsewhere. Hopefully the remaining books in the series will leave the script OUT.

The Infinities line of Star Wars plays as a What If? storyline of the original trilogy of the saga. In this third installment, which I thought was one of the better ones, came a little short of being great, in fact the three books come out this way. In Jedi, it is very interesting to see how things would've played out if something different had happened. It was good to see this, but one of our favorite characters is sort of incapacitated, and the ending wasn't that good either. Also to note is that I thought the three books would be tied together storywise but no they are stand alone stories, a bit disappointing, but in general it was good and entertaining.

well, i have always liked infinities comics, they are funny, witty and adds alittle interesting twist to they Star wars movies are played out.

But with this magazine i was not "that" impressive, it seems very rushed...things are left out and they move too fast trough the plot making is a lesser comic...but not a bad one.

When compared to the the other Infinities these does not have that many leggs to stand on, but it does stand and for a normal star wars fan its a good buy, but do not expect to be awed.

Hopefully a next issue of the inifinties will perhas be done abit better.

I would give it a 3, but since its star wars with a twist i will ok it for a 4, just because its star wars :p

Enjoy

If you are a fan of alternate history, you'll really enjoy this. Just a minor change in plotline and you find the story just as entertaining as the original.

It's not easy to rewrite the star wars universe. Case in point: Imagine that you have to rewrite Return of the Jedi. You may change one event, one moemnt, then let your imagination flow. The possibilities for what may happen are almost endless.

But the important thing is, no matter what you come up with, it's important to take the time to tell your story well.

As with the previous two installments of the infinity line of star wars comics (A new hope and the empire strikes back, or IANH, ITESB), the folks at Dark Horse take the classic film and change one event, then see where the story goes. Remember the moment where Leia, disguised as Bossh, armed a thermal detonator in Jabba's palace? What would happen if that detonar...well, detonated?

With that simple change, the story of Return of the Jedi changes. There is no skiff sequence, no rancor fight, and sadly, one of the most beloved charachters is vaporized as a result (and no, it's not Bib Fortuna). From there, the story continues towards it's final moment...the final battle of the rebel alliance and the galactic empire above the endor moon.

What sets Return of the Jedi, infinities apart from IANH and ITESB is it's story. While the first two departed from the established story line greatly, IROTJ sticks fairly close to what happens in the film. Luke still fights Vader on the death star, the rebels still have to blow up the generator on Endor, and Vader must choose between following his master, or killing his children. Instead of the big details, it's the little ones that are changed.

Because it sticks closely to the established story, this entry in the infinities line isn't as compelling or fascinating as the previous two. Don't get me wrong, it's still entertaining, but it's just not as compelling as IANH or ITESB. There are great moments, such as how the bunker is destroyed, Han getting out of the carbonite, and what happens to Vader, but the one thing I noticed the most when reading this comic was the feeling that it was rushing as quickly as it could towards it's conclusion. As I said ealier in this review, if you're going to tell a story, try to tell it well. From the moment the rebeliion heads towards the Endor system, the book picks up the pace and doesn't let up, going at mach 4 towards the ending.

And in the end, this is what harms the story the most. It just goes too quickly. There's no real sense of how vast the final battle is, or how compelling the emotional fight is between Vader and Luke. one example is a description on the back of the book. We're told, "what if the ewoks fought both rebel and imperial?". Indeed, the ewoks attack the rebels...for all of two panels, then they vanish, never to be seen again, and with no impact on how the story plays out. Moments where the potential for emotional drama is high stop two panels short, stopping these scenes dead in thier tracks. Going really fast is not always the best option when you're telling an action story, as it is possible to go way too fast, as is the case here.

But even with the speed and pacing issue, IROTJ is still a fun read. The artwork is unique, looking like a strong blend between hand drawn and computer enhanced, and the final page of the comic, with what happens in it, is sure to put a huge smile on any star wars fan's face (but to reveal it would be criminal).

Now the big question...to buy, or not to buy? I'm really not sure what to say here, except that your best bet is to find this comic in a store, read it, then decide if you want to buy. Just like with the issue of bringing the fluffy ewoks into existance in the star wars universe, you either like it, or you don't like it.

Published in 1983, this book looks at the history of Elstree Studios from its beginnings as a film studio in 1925/1926 by Williams,Schlesinger and Wilcox. There are a few historical aerial photographs of this world-famous facility that housed Star Wars, Indiana Jones and countless other blockbuster movies. The majority of the book uses publicity photographs from the various films made here and in the final chapter we get an extensive listing of the studio's film-history starting with 'Poppies of Flanders'(1927) to 'Reilly,Ace of Spies'(1982.)
The book was finished before the studio saw de-construction and the majority of the site sold to Tesco Shopping Center with the famous Star Wars Stage 6 torn down. This book is a record of a vanished age.

Stan Lee has done it again! Marvel Comics takes a classic tale (Star Wars, Episode VI - Return of the Jedi) and brings it to life in this comic version of the blockbuster movie.

Here's a description of RETURN OF THE JEDI, in case you've been living in a hole and didn't see the 1983 movie:

It was a dark time for the rebel alliance...Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, had been delivered into the hands of the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt. Determined to rescue him, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Lando Calrissian launched a hazardous mission against Jabba's Tatooine stronghold.
The Rebel commanders gathered all the warships of the Rebel fleet into a single giant armada. And Darth Vader and the Emperor, who had ordered construction to begin on a new and even more powerful Death Star, were making plans to crush the Rebel Alliance once and for all.

Premiere Magazine's movie screenplays tend to be a bit plain & straightforward-looking, yet eye-catching at the same time. Depending on whether or not the movie is considered a classic or `popular', the color of the thin posterboard-stock cover will be black or red (the latter being the case for the ROTJ script), respectively. The writing on the cover & spine is in gold foil. The front cover is a die-cut, with the movie's release one-sheet poster featured in the void. Although the die-cut gives the script an attractive look, it tends to get caught up on the edges of the other books on my shelf when I put it away, which can lead to wrinkling and tearing of the cover. So needless to say, I gotta make sure there's a decent space between books when I put this away.

The Script itself is printed in the basic screenplay typeset and format, with each page printed on one side only. The typeface isn't too bold, and can be hard to read at times. The back of the book includes all of the movies (up to 1994) the main cast members have appeared in, as well as four color & four B/W photo reproductions from the movie. I was somewhat disappointed by the kinds of photos included with the ROTJ script- they're the rather plain & very common publicity stills that have been seen many times over in endless other Star Wars publications. I was kinda hoping for some `new' pics, but I guess I'm just S.O.L. in that department...

Aside from `Return of the Jedi', there are also Premiere scripts of the first two pre-SE `Star Wars' flicks, the Star Trek movies from II through VI, The Indiana Jones Trilogy, Rocky, The Wizard of Oz, and many others. If you've a fave movie that's considered a classic, or a popular modern release from the 80s or earlier, there's a good chance that Premiere magazine published a script of it. Unfortunately, they've all been out of print for several years now, which means you're gonna hafta do some big-time hunting if you want to get the Premiere screenplay of your fave flick. More power to you...

One last thing: this particular script is of the original ROTJ. Check out the `Return of The Jedi Script Facsimile' if you're looking for a somewhat similar presentation of the Special Edition screenplay.

`Late

This is book is a tremendous and thrilling story of the star war. Its way of tellig the story brings the readers in a tremendous world with the concept that they are living in this world and considering themself as the heroes.

Its extraordinary narrations of technicality and way of story telling brings a huge amount of happiness and extacy in our mind.

...Its a great kids book, even I enjoy reading it and listening to it as well. Its short with great pictures from the movie. The only thing that disagreed with me was the voices of the characters they used. They sound close, but they sure don't measure up to the real thing!