Saturday, May 25, 2013

HAPPY 30TH BIRTHDAY, RETURN OF THE JEDI

Today is the 30th Anniversary of 'RETURN OF THE JEDI'. I was just shy of 8yrs old when 'Return of the Jedi' hit theaters, and it blew my mind. At the time it was, by far, the best thing to ever be created.

As I grew older, the glaring flaws began to become apparent, but I still love the movie. The concept designs and The Emperor are still outstanding. Some of my best childhood memories are of that time; the movie, toys, trading cards, magazines, etc. When I watch 'Return of the Jedi' tonight (Theatrical version) I put on my kid-memory-goggles and giggle like a nerd on a biker scout.

Happy 30th Anniversary, 'Return of the Jedi'!



*Friends don't let friends watch the Special Edition.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was about 7 as well, and RotJ was the only one I saw in the theater!

Definitely remember the styling, of the movie overall, and all the toys, excitement, & etc all going on.

When I finally got the Emperor's Royal Guard figure I had been saving for, I quickly opened it up & tried to look under the helmet to see who was in there! lol

allen etter said...

I saw Jedi ten times in high school. My sister was going through a rough patch and it was affecting the whole family. Jedi was my escape. I remember sitting in the theater and there was a scene where a whole bunch of tie fighters are flying past the docking bay and four of them in the lower left just disappeared. I was so surprised that the scene was kept in the movie that I wanted to see the movie again just to make sure I didn't imagine it. The following weekend it had stopped playing and I had to wait til the laser disc to see it again.

Jason Garrett said...

ROTJ gets a lot of shit thrown at it, but we got some really awesome stuff out of it. Coming to mind: Boba Fett in action, the Luke/R2 flip/lightsaber combo, Shuttle Tiderium, the mega TIE Fighter formation right around "it's a trap", speeder bikes, AT-AT's in the forest, Luke's Jedi threads, force lightning, bikini Leia, green lightsabers, the Falcon inside the Death Star, Scout Troopers. And fuck it, Ewoks were fun. Happy Birthday, ROTJ... although Revenge would have been much cooler.

IsuzuGeek said...

Hey Jim, I know this is probably nerd sacrilege, but I have steered clear of all things Star Wars since the new movies reared their ugly heads. I don't think I need to get into the details about why, but anyway, are there any DVDs of the original 3 movies in their original formats or is VHS still the only option?

Jim said...

The THEATRICAL versions were made available during one of the re-re-releases of the dvd, residing on the BONUS disc. I believe its from the original transfer for laserdisc, so the quality isn't superb. But atleast you get to watch the movies as you remember them, and without the new bullshit.

These are the dvds with the theatrical:

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Versions-Two-Disc-Widescreen/dp/B000FQVX78/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1369765463&sr=8-8&keywords=star+wars+original+trilogy+dvd

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Episode-Versions-Widescreen/dp/B000FQJAJG/ref=pd_bxgy_mov_img_y

http://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Versions-Two-Disc-Widescreen/dp/B000FQVX78/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1369765463&sr=8-8&keywords=star+wars+original+trilogy+dvd

IsuzuGeek said...

Thanks, Jim!!

Jim said...

Keep Disc 2, Throw away Disc 1.