[Lord Aquaman]

It's been said that originall George Lucas wanted his buddy/cohort/comrade-in-arms Steven Spielberg to direct "Return of the Jedi" but due to a dispute with the Diretor's Guild Lucas was unable to acquire Spielberg, and so he eventually settled for the late Richard Marquand as director (Lucas and Marquand allegedly did not get along very well during the shoot). But prior to getting Marquand, Lucas offered the directing reins to Canadian born horror director David Cronenberg, who's credits include -

Scanners
Rabid
Shivers
Videodrome
The Fly (1986 remake)

And at another point the director's chair was offered to David Lynch, but he turned it down.

So I ask you now, primarily the fans who feel that "Return of the Jedi" was a semi-horrible failure - would having Spielberg, Lynch and/or Cronenberg at the director's helm have made "Jedi" a better movie?

Also - legend has it that Harrison Ford suggested that Han Solo die, sacrificing himself to save one of his friends to add more dramatic weight to the film and creating a sense of fear for the other characters, but George Lucas disagreed with him.

Would killing off Han Solo have made ROTJ better?

[Helena]

I'm glad Han Solo wasn't killed off. Star Wars is, ultimately, a fairy tale, and I think an unhappy ending or a Pyrrhic victory would have been deeply unsatisfying for the viewers. However, I do think it would probably have been far better if more of the original plot elements had been retained - like using Wookiees instead of Ewoks.

[Just your average movie goer]

It needed some death and mayhem... this is the climactic episode of a galactic war. I can't believe they settled it with teddy bears, slapstick comedy and Threepio antics.

I think having a stronger willed director, somebody who could tell Lucas to shove it, would have helped things immensely.

Even if they couldn't ask for a total script re-write, perhaps they could have persuaded Lucas to use wookies instead of ewoks and not have the good guys bring Threepio along on a commando mission. Also a better director would not have allowed all that stupid slapstick...

ie -the burp jokes, the guy shooting Luke's hand and then doing nothing and allowing Luke to knock him off the sail barge, Threepio falling over with his legs skyward, Threepio popping his head around a tree in a comical fashion, the Imperial in the bunker (with a gun aimed right at Han) doing nothing while Han throws a box at him, the ewok hitting himself in the head, ewoks doing tarzan yells....

you know, that stupid shit that took up almost the entire movie.


In addition to this, a good director may have been able to make Return of the Jedi look well like a well-made film and not something that was slapped together over the course of a weekend.

[Xombie]

Cronenberg is the probably the most intelligent director to ever major in the horror genre. His films are so coldly clinical, as if he sees the entire human condition as a revolting pathology, that you have to wonder if Cronenberg himself was born entirely lacking the gene for sentimentality. I can't even begin to imagine what a Cronenberg-directed RotJ would have looked like.

My only guess concerns that desert mouth thingie. Forty-five minutes of the movie would have taken place inside its intestine.

[Xombie]

And, yes, Han should have died. And, if not Han, then Luke. If if not Han or Luke, then for God's sakes Lando!

As it is, you have a WAR movie in which not a single sympathetic protagonist dies (and by dead, I mean DIES AND STAYS DEAD). Its absurd and childish. Wars involve death for both sides, whether viewed as sacrifice or meaningingless carnage. To have complete victory come without any real price to the character cheapens its meaning.

And, no, the dead little ewok doesn't count.

[Lord Aquaman]

Xombie, I didn't know you were anti-Lando.

I read that David Cronenberg's approach to horror was influenced by watching his father die of cancer when he was young.

I imagine that if David Cronenberg had said yes to ROTJ, there would have been a lot of characters saying "the Flesh", which comes up in almost every Cronenberg film (it's kind of his trademark).

DARTH VADER: "Who needs the flesh?"

LUKE: "Remember the flesh that you once rejected!"

EMPEROR: "Say goodbye to your flesh, boy."

JABBA: "HOHOHO, look at the flesh on that girl!"

[Despondent]

(and by dead, I mean DIES AND STAYS DEAD)

[SithAvenger]

Steven Spielberg could have been a GREAT choice.