Episode VI: Return of the Jedi

commentary

6 - INT. CAVE - TATOOINE - LUKE & ARTOO From The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: "Mark Hamill is coming back for one day of shooting later this month [November] to do the scene where he builds his new lasersword..." 1 Go to Unused Footage From Michael Matessino's ROTJ:SE soundtrack commentary: "...the music continues with TATOOINE RENDEZVOUS, most of which accompanies a sequence eliminated from the film. In it, Vader uses the Force to contact his son, Luke Skywalker. The tone of the music changes with the appearance of a synthesizer and dissonant strings, which Williams uses to gracefully transform the setting to the desert planet Tatooine..." "...the sequence begins with the brief telepathic exchange between Luke and Vader, which is broken by the appearance of the droids Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio, accompanied by Luke's Theme and a playful bouncing wind melody as Luke places a newly constructed lightsaber inside Artoo's domed head." 2 Go to Multimedia 70 - INT. DEATH STAR - CORRIDOR TO EMPEROR'S TOWER 3 Preparations for filming Vader are made while actor Michael Pennington in officer's uniform stands by (far left). Royal guards have yet to be positioned by the elevator door. From The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi: "Scene 70 is the corridor to the Emperor's tower and the Elevator and is three lines of dialogue long. An officer tells Vader that he cannot enter. Vader chokes him and convinces him that Vader should, indeed, see the Emperor." "...November 1982, San Raphael. According to Howard Kazanjian, Scene 70 has now been cut from the picture, partly because of the running time and partly because it doesn't move the action along. The scenes of Vader choking people are now almost classics, but Kazanjian says that there are lots of other scenes to make up for this one." 3 Go to Unused Footage 83 - EXT. SPACE - REBEL FLEET 4 General Crix Madine at the helm of a Calamarian Cruiser during the Battle of Endor. From an interview with Dermot Crowley, (General Madine): "By the end of his two-day stint in the Briefing Room, Crowley had gotten so used to his surroundings that he soon found General Madine recruited for a second mission. 'At the end of the day, someone came up to me - I can't remember if it was Richard Marquand - and said, "What are you doing next week? We'd like to shoot some more with you." So I spent a whole period of maybe five days being directed by George Lucas, who was directing a lot of the second unit.' "During that week, Crowley filmed scenes of Madine's actions during the Endor Battle. 'I had a whole sequence of flying through space in this special machine,' he said, 'and I got to say, "May the Force be with us," and all sorts of exciting things - which of course never got in the movie, much to my disappointment. But of course, an enormous amount of the movie obviously ended up on the cutting room floor. That's part of the actor's portfolio.' "Despite the fact that his extra footage didn't make it into the final cut, Crowley said that he was happy to film the scenes. 'It became exciting,' he said. You had to pinch yourself now and again and say, "Hey, I'm being directed by George Lucas - this is fun!" I got to play with some of the gadgets, and I remember being on this sort of rotor arm being whirled around and shouting whatever orders were to be shouted at the time. And because I was on the set for a little longer, I saw some of the other creatures, which were absolutely astonishing.'" 4 Go to Unused Footage Sources: 1, 3 - The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, edited by John Phillip Peecher. Published by Ballantine Books, 1983. 2 - Return of the Jedi: Special Edition Soundtrack; music composed and conducted by John Williams; published by Bantha Music; ® ™ & © 1997 Lucasfilm Ltd. Commentary by Michael Matessino. 4 - Behind the Magic: The Insider's Guide to Star Wars, CD-ROM, LucasArts Entertainment Co., LLC 5 - "Dermot Crowley: Iron Madine" by Scott Chernoff, The Star Wars Insider, Issue #41, Dec/Jan 1998/1999.