In Defense of the Jedi

I'm writing this because I think that the Sixth (or third) film in the Star Wars Saga, Return of the Jedi, is unfairly maligned. Sure, it, like every other George Lucas film, has its flaws, but overall it is a good movie with fewer flaws than people think. I'll tackle what people usually complain about one at a time.

The DeathStar again?
Sure, the Deathstar already showed up in the first movie and it is a bit of a cop out to do it again, but in this case I mostly feel bad for George Lucas. The movie he originally wanted to do was too long to every be filmed, so he had to break it up into three parts. Of course, that left the first part without an ending. Since Lucas never thought people would let him make a sequel to his crazy movie and he probably believed that audiences would want a real ending to the first movie, the Deathstar was moved up. Its hard to think of another setting for a showdown between the Rebels and the Empire. Just try to ignore the fact that it apparently took them twenty years to build the first one and built the second in like six.

Teddy Bear Picnic
Harrison Ford famously called the last segment of the movie a Teddy Bear Picnic because of the party involving the Ewoks. People's problems, however, go much deeper than just the party to the very involvement of Ewoks. I loved the Ewoks as a kid, hated them as a teenager, and have turned back around to them as an "adult." First, if the people of the forest moon of Endor (not Endor itself as many people mistakenly believe) had been scarier than midgets in bear costumes the Empire would have picked somewhere else to park their moon sized space station. I mean, really, what did the Empire have to fear from a bunch of teddy bears? I think that is the ultimate reason why I like the Ewoks once again, it shows how cocky the Empire was. They got so full of themselves that they ignored a technologically unadvanced people, let the Rebel Alliance bring all their ships to a "trap," and took their two biggest players out of the fight (more on that later). The Empire got cocky and they ended up getting screwed because of it. Also, everyone complains about how rudimentary the weapons used by the Ewoks were in taking down Imperial Forces. If you really think about it though, the Empire has marched across the galaxy, stamping out resistance from people who shot at them with blasters and had space ships. Do you really think they spent a lot of time in basic training covering what to do if your AT-ST gets logs rolled in front of it? I don't think so either.

Luke was basically useless
Some people like to claim that Luke was basically wasting his time during the last act of Jedi. I have a different take. Those saying that Luke wasted his time point to the fact that the Deathstar was going to blow up soon anyway as proof that Luke really didn't do anything. However, if the Skywalker saga doesn't take place, do things really unfold the same way? First, Luke is one of the main reasons that the Emperor decides to set his "brilliant" trap for the Rebellion in the first place. I mean, he has to be sick of hearing Vader talk about his kid all the time. He also probably heard about Vader's offer to Luke about joining him and overthrowing the Emperor (which, coming from a Sith is not that surprising, but still couldn't have been pleasant to hear about). Also, I'm sure he would be more than happy to trade Vader in for a younger, less messed up model. Anyways, the Emperor decides to spend his and his right hand man's time during the biggest battle of the Rebellion dealing with one boy who isn't even a Jedi yet. Can you imagine what might have happened had he set Vader loose on the Battle of Endor? Do you really think that the shield generator gets blown up if Vader is guarding it personally? I mean, lightsabers work just as well on Ewoks, you just swing a bit lower. What if Vader had hopped into his TIE fighter? Do you really think that Lando flys the Falcon into the Deathstar with Vader flying around? Luke took the Empires two biggest pieces out of play for the Battle of Endor, which was certainly valuable. Less valuable was when he threw away his lightsaber after defeating Vader. Did Luke think the Emperor would just let him go?

Anyways, that's my defense of Return of the Jedi. Maybe soon I'll try to defend the prequels.