547 Return of the Jedi (1983)
Description
This article is from the Movie Trivia, by Murray Chapman muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au with numerous contributions by others.
547 Return of the Jedi (1983)
- SFX crew claim to have included a ``sneaker'' as one of the spaceships in a
complex dog-fight scene.
- Jabba's sail barge was filmed in Yuma, Arizona. The film crew had problems
avoiding the 35,000 dune buggy enthusiasts in the area. To preserve secrecy,
the producers claimed to be making a horror film called ``Blue Harvest
(Horror beyond your imagination)'', and even had caps and t-shirts made up
for the crew. A chain-link fence and a 24-hour security service could not
prevent die-hard fans from entering the set and sneaking some photographs.
- Experiments with a computer to generate a random but logical language for
some creatures produced a dialect of Greek.
- Luke's hand gets shot. Leia gets shot in the shoulder. Luke cuts off Darth
Vader's hand. See also "Star Wars (1977)" (qv) and
"The Empire Strikes Back (1980)" (qv).
- The main chamber of Jabba's palace is connected to the entrance by a short
flight of steps. When filming the scene where R2-D2 enters the chamber
it was discovered that the droid could not roll down the stairs. In the
movie we see R2-D2 approaching the stairs, then the camera moves
to the left past the steps and the droid re-enters the field of view, having
been manually hauled down the stairs.
- The dancer that Jabba drops into the Rancor pit loses her top as she falls
in.
- 'Carrie Fisher' (qv)'s birthmark (near the small of her back) is visible in
the desert scene where she turns her back to the camera to swing around a
mounted laser gun.
- Rumor has it that Nien Numb speaks a Kenyan dialect, and one of his lines
is ``One thousand herds of elephants are standing on my foot''.
- Lando Calrissian and The Millenium Falcon originally scripted to perish in
the Death Star explosion, but this was changed after a poor preview audience
reception. Note Han's line when Calrissian leaves in the Falcon: ``...like
I'm not going to see her again...''
- It is rumored that a different ending was shot, but discarded later
on. It featured the (long awaited) marriage between Leia Organa and
Han Solo. Dark Horse's Comic ``Dark Empire'' is based on that fact and
presents Han and Leia as a married couple.
- 'Denis Lawson' (qv), who played Wedge Antilles in "Star Wars (1977)" (qv)
and "The Empire Strikes Back (1980)" (qv) plays Wedge in this film, despite
the rumours to the contrary which were caused by his name being misspelt
(``Dennis Lawson'') in the credits of "Star Wars (1977)" (qv). Intense
debate on Usenet prompted Jarod Nash to write a letter to Lawson,
asking for clarificaion. Lawson confirmed that he indeed played in all
three movies.
- Among the aliens in Jabba the Hutt's entourage are ones named ``Klaatu,''
``Barada'' and ``Nikto,'' after the command given to the robot Gort in
"The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)" (qv). The aliens are not referred
to by name in the film, nor do they have any lines. Klaatu is the character
who tries to push Luke into Sarlacc.
- The name ``Ewok'' is never used to refer to the teddy-bear creatures in the
film, though it does appear in the credits.
- The following characters ``have a bad feeling about this'': C-3PO, Han, and
Lando.
- The Endor shots were filmed near Crescent City, California. Forest work was
especially hard on the Ewok actors. Production Assistant Ian Bryce arrived
on the set one day to find a note from the Ewok actors saying that they had
all had enough and they were on their way to the airport. Bryce tried to
drive to the airport, but got a flat tire not far from the set. He found
another car and was about to leave when the Ewok's bus pulled up, and all
the Ewok actors got off wearing ``Revenge of the Ewok'' t-shirts.
- Darth Vader's body was played by 'David Prowse' (qv), his voice by
'James Earl Jones' (qv), and his face by 'Sebastian Shaw.
- One of the songs that the Ewoks sing sounds like: ``Det luktar flingor har'',
which is Swedish for ``It smells of cereal here.'' Another song sounds
identical to a song sung in "Caveman (1981)" (qv).
- The title ``Revenge of the Jedi'' was leaked early in production, so that
pirated merchandise could be easily spotted when the film was released. The
official reason for the change was that ``...a Jedi would not take revenge''.
Some authentic pre-release movie posters actually had ``Revenge'', and are
worth a lot of money today.
- Portions of the partially completed Death Star model resemble the San
Francisco skyline.
Continue to:
My Books
