44 Years Ago Today, Star Wars Got the Update Fans Had Been Waiting Years For (And It Started A Lot of Controversy)

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When Star Wars: A New Hope premiered in 1977, it quickly became a global phenomenon, captivating audiences of all ages for a full year. Three years later, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back arrived and is widely considered one of the best sequels ever made – some even put it above The Godfather Part II. It’s maintained that reputation for over 45 years. Essentially, A New Hope established an incredibly high standard, and its sequel either met or surpassed it, depending on your perspective.

When it was announced that filming for Star Wars: Return of the Jedi would begin on January 11th, 1982, excitement was incredibly high. This was the final chapter in a trilogy that had, up to that point, been flawless. The movie really needed to deliver a satisfying conclusion. And if you ask fans – both then and now – most would probably say it didn’t quite live up to expectations. Let’s explore why, and what aspects fall short compared to the first two films.

The Ewoks & Other Questionable Elements

The biggest complaint about Return of the Jedi was the Ewoks. While fans loved the banter between C-3PO and R2-D2, and even a Wookiee playing chess, the small, talking teddy bears and their strange language felt like too much for many viewers.

While The Empire Strikes Back ended with a glimmer of hope, it was still a downbeat conclusion. However, the biggest issue with Return of the Jedi was its inconsistent tone, and the Ewoks felt like a strange and unwelcome shift in direction.

The Ewoks felt like a shift towards silliness after the more serious tone of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, and especially after the surprisingly dark first half of Return of the Jedi. The film starts with a frightening scene involving Jabba the Hutt and a monstrous creature, but then quickly transitions to Leia interacting with the playful Ewoks – it’s a jarring change in atmosphere.

The Ewoks also faced criticism for feeling like a marketing ploy. While the Star Wars franchise was becoming famous for its merchandise, and many people did buy the toys and lunchboxes, the Ewoks seemed designed to sell products rather than emerge organically from a compelling story that would naturally inspire those sales.

The battle on Endor, while exciting with its intense fighting, felt a little underwhelming as a finale. It followed the destruction of the first Death Star and the battle of Hoth, and the Rebels, despite being outnumbered and facing a huge Imperial force, winning felt strangely anticlimactic. It didn’t quite live up to the expectations set by everything that came before.

While the scenes with Luke, Vader, and the Emperor are fantastic, the rest of the climax doesn’t quite work. Having another large battle alongside the fight on Endor, especially another attack on the Death Star, felt like a repeat of what we’d already seen. Just because something was exciting the first time doesn’t guarantee it will have the same impact the second time around.

Return of the Jedi isn’t without its flaws. The rescue mission for Han Solo felt less like a well-thought-out plan and more like hoping for the best, with many things that could have easily failed—and did, as Leia was captured. However, the scene at Jabba the Hutt’s palace is exciting, until Boba Fett’s surprisingly anticlimactic death, complete with a silly burping sound.

While Return of the Jedi is enjoyable and a beloved film from the 1980s, it showed that not every story within the Star Wars galaxy needed to be told. Although some later Star Wars movies have been even less successful, it doesn’t quite reach the heights of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back.

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2026-01-12 00:42