FAQ for
Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983) More at IMDbPro »

The following FAQ entries may contain spoilers. Only the biggest ones (if any) will be covered with spoiler tags. Spoiler tags are used sparingly in order to make the page more readable.

Return of the Jedi takes place roughly a year after the events of The Empire Strikes Back, and four years after the events of A New Hope.

The answer depends on who you ask.

He was swallowed by the Sarlacc after Han accidentally activated his jetpack and he bounced off Jabba's sail barge. According to the Expanded Universe (particularly the Star Wars anthology novels Tales from Jabba's Palace and Tales of the Bounty Hunters), he managed to "blast" his way out from under the sand and was discovered by another bounty hunter, Dengar (from The Empire Strikes Back and among those commissioned to find the Millennium Falcon), who saw fit to help Boba recover from extensive injuries sustained in the Sarlacc. However, the scene was originally written to be his death scene and, for the purposes of the film, he is as dead as a doornail or will be after 1,000 years of slow digestion.

George Lucas actually stated on the audio commentary on the DVD that he regretted Boba's fate, as he learned only after the movie how popular a cult figure the bounty hunter had become in the years between Empire and Jedi. Had Lucas known that when writing Return of the Jedi's screenplay, he would have given Fett a more heroic exit. He even contemplated adding, in the Special Edition, a scene of Boba Fett crawling out of the pit again, but decided to focus on the main narrative instead. So in a way, it can be said that the fate Lucas intended for Fett has changed over time, which may provide an opportunity for his return in the upcoming Star Wars sequels, Episodes VIII and IX.

No. Although Leia proved her strength and courage in this film during several battle scenes, she has had no actual Jedi training, even though she has the potential to be a Jedi Knight; as Luke states, "You have that power, too. In time, you'll learn to use it as I have", meaning he would train her.

In the old Expanded Universe, Leia does indeed receive training and becomes a full-fledged Jedi Master many years later. This however is not apparent in the chronological sequel, The Force Awakens.

A Jedi's training consists of more than lightsaber lessons, physical training and education in Force control; as every Padawan (an individual undergoing Jedi training) had to complete the Jedi Trials in order to become a Jedi Knight. In old times, these trials were often done inside areas of the Jedi Temple, where the Force would create physical and mental challenges, which tested the candidate's skills, knowledge and determination. Luke faces one of such trials in the cave on Dagobah, where his mind creates Darth Vader as manifestation of his fear, indicating that he is still not in control of the Force.

There are special circumstances in which a Padawan has already proven himself in the field more than enough to earn him the level of Jedi Knight. In the first prequel, The Phantom Menace, Obi-Wan Kenobi was ready for the trials according to Qui-Gon Jinn, but he was given the title after defeating a fully-trained Sith Lord almost single-handedly. In the animated micro-series Clone Wars (an interquel to Episodes II and III), Anakin Skywalker earned his title after single-handedly defending an outpost against the Separatists. Yoda and Ben already knew that Luke would not yet be able to defeat Darth Vader, and they feared that he would also be unable to resist the dark side of the Force. However, Luke managed to resist Vader's temptations.

So, despite Luke's unfortunate choice to leave his training early, this may have been considered a successfully completed Jedi Trial. Luke had also made himself a new lightsaber (having lost Anakin's old one during his duel with Darth Vader in the Cloud City), another test necessary in order to become a Jedi Knight. According to George Lucas, the ability to create one's own functional lightsaber is one of the last trials toward becoming a Jedi because of the high level of control over the Force, which is necessary to maneuver the crystals that make up the major components of a lightsaber. The slightest miscalculation will cause the lightsaber to explode when first activated. Vader confirms this later after realizing that Luke has constructed a new lightsaber, and he states that Luke's skills are complete because of this accomplishment. Yoda concluded that Luke's training was indeed complete, and there was little more he could learn from him: all that stood in the way of Luke becoming a Jedi Knight was a final confrontation with Vader, the hope being that Luke would bring Anakin back from the dark side.

Also take into account that Yoda was dying and could not exactly leave Luke with the impression that he was not fully trained. This would cause Luke to doubt himself when he most needed confidence.

If by "originally" you mean since the very first draft, no. The earliest draft has General Luke Skywalker as an aging Jedi Master, while Anakin Starkiller is his apprentice. Anakin has a father, Kane Starkiller, and a brother, Deak Starkiller, who is killed by Vader early in the film. The Starkillers live on Utapau (which would eventually appear in the third prequel, Revenge of the Sith). Princess Leia, on the other hand, is the biological daughter of King Kayos and Queen Breha of Aquilae. Her brothers in this draft are Biggs and Windom.

In the second draft, Princess Leia has little more than a cameo. The biography The Cinema of George Lucas describes Leia as the niece of Owen and his wife Beru, and the sister to Biggs, Windy and Luke, who live on the planet Utapau. Deak is not killed. Instead, he is the character held captive by the Empire. Luke and Annikin have been merged into a single character, Luke Starkiller. Biggs and Windy are now the youngest of the Starkiller siblings. Their father is simply known as Starkiller. The droids find Owen, having been instructed by Deak that he will lead them to "Angel Blue" (Luke). The most interesting note about this draft is that it is Luke's brother who takes Leia's place as the Empire's captive. It would seem at this point that Leia had become Luke's sister; however, by the following draft, this would be reversed again. (Interestingly, in the book The Making of Star Wars: The Definitive Story Behind the Original Film, this draft is described with an important difference: Leia is named as Luke's cousin. Therefore, her role in the second draft is not completely certain.)

In the third draft, Leia is from Ogana Major, and from all indications she is the biological daughter of their royal family. In the fourth draft, Ogana Major became Alderaan, and a slightly modified version of the original planet name, "Organa", became Leia's last name.

The first draft of The Empire Strikes Back features a brief appearance by the ghost of Luke's father, who tells Luke that he has a sister who is undergoing Jedi training on the other side of the galaxy. Based on this description, the sister in question is clearly not Leia.

At one point, George Lucas claims to have considered making the principal character a female (some early production art reflects this direction) but eventually decided to keep both "versions" of the character as siblings.

Some people consider this as a major plot hole, whilst, in reality, they did not read too deeply into the mysticism of the films. As it has been suggested that whilst Luke and Vader can sense each other as father and son, it is entirely plausible that Leia inherited feelings and images from her mother, in a sense creating a mother and daughter symmetry to the male-dominated world of the Jedi. Remember that Leia's dialogue mentions "images" and "feelings" as opposed to witnessing events. Yoda does tell Luke that through the Force he could see "old friends long gone." It also should be remembered that while they appear human, these characters come from "a galaxy far, far away" and would not necessarily have the same mental development as an Earth-born human.

It is also possible Leia is not referring to Padmé at all, as she could be referring to Senator Bail Organa's wife. She grew up thinking the Organas were her biological parents, which could be why Leia remembers "images" of her mother. However, this is clearly not the intended meaning of the scene, as Luke does specifically ask Leia "Do you remember your mother? Your real mother?" Leia does not react with suprise at the term "real," which would certainly suggest that she knew at that point that she was adopted, and understood to whom Luke was referring.

The Revenge of the Sith novelization also adds an interesting twist to the whole "How can Leia remember Padmé?" issue. It states that, after Leia's birth she "stared intently in Padmé's direction, as if she wanted to memorize her face." One can assume that it is meant to be implied that this is how she is able to remember Padmé later in life. Why would she be able to remember something from when she was just seconds old, though? Most likely the Force helped her retain the memory. Of course, the account in the novelization of Leia staring at Padmé also raises the question of why this was not the case in the movie. Although the filmmakers most likely would have liked to have something like that in the movie, keep in mind that they were shooting with a very young baby (it is inferred in the commentary that the baby they were using for the scenes was not more than a few months old), and infants basically behave in a manner not subject to instruction or direction.

The most important reason is that the Emperor craves power. Vader was older, and is eventually defeated by Luke. Clearly he has lost his effectiveness in combat and likely in the natural intuition that a Jedi or Sith Lord possesses, so a younger apprentice who is just as, if not more powerful than Vader, would prove advantageous to the Emperor.

Another, lesser known reason which is not addressed in the movies, but stated in many novelizations, is that Vader's ability to use the Force was greatly reduced upon suffering the injuries which confined him to his survival suit. Therefore, Luke, being the son of Anakin, one of the most powerful Jedi known, would definitely be more powerful, inheriting his father's abilities and with the training he received from Yoda. As George Lucas states in the "Making of" book for the third prequel, Revenge of the Sith, the Emperor "will ultimately be disappointed in Anakin," and will eventually see Luke (and possibly Leia) as an opportunity to obtain a more powerful apprentice.

A third reason which can tie in with the first two is that the Sith habitually follow or are afflicted by "the Rule of Two", a name given to a concept expounded upon by Yoda at the end of the first prequel, The Phantom Menace: "Always two there are, no more, no less: a master and an apprentice." This is due to a Sith Lord's extreme inclination to be possessive of other individuals amidst having obsession with power; and due to competition and betrayal accordingly. (The value that anybody has to a Sith Lord cannot be peacefully shared with a third party.) To have Luke and Vader as his apprentices, especially considering they were father and son, would definitely increase the chance that they would betray and kill the Emperor. Vader even proposes this idea to Luke, in The Empire Strikes Back, though that could have just been a ruse to coax Luke to the dark side of the Force, promising him secondary rule of the galaxy. He also suggests overthrowing the Emperor to his wife, in Revenge of the Sith, and ruling the galaxy with her, which was only shortly after he had turned to the dark side.

Also (in the Expanded Universe), the Rule of Two involves a provision of which the Emperor was not fond of. As the story goes, the Rule of Two came about after thousands of years of the Sith being in power. The Dark Lords of the Sith were vast and there was an unspoken tradition within their ranks that the apprentices would at some point try and kill their masters. Eventually this imploded and the Sith all but destroyed themselves due to the constant paranoia and scheming between masters and apprentices. Eventually, around 1,000 years before the events of the Star Wars plots, the Sith Darth Bane initiated the Rule of Two allowing only one master and one apprentice. The idea being that after the apprentice's training was complete, he would challenge his master in open combat. If the apprentice won the duel, he would strike down his master and claim the title for himself, then find his own apprentice. On the flip-side, if the apprentice lost the duel, he was unworthy of the title of Sith Master, and the master would find a replacement; the idea being that no matter what, the Sith would always become stronger with each master and apprentice. Clearly the Emperor was not fond of Bane's idea, because he manipulated Anakin/Vader in such a way that Vader never found a sincere motivation to overthrow the Emperor after it was thought that his wife and his child were killed. Vader's only desire was to become more powerful through the dark side of the Force. So the Emperor only gave him small bits of training over the years to keep Vader enticed. The Emperor then gets Vader and Luke to duel each other, the victor being intended to be the Emperor's apprentice.

These are hand-drawn garbage mattes. A garbage matte represents a technique of blotting out unwanted areas of a shot, such as the greyish boxes appearing around spacecraft in some scenes, where the matte was used to cut out mounting pylons for the models and other areas not covered by blue screen. In a theatrical presentation, these garbage mattes are generally invisible because of the high contrast of motion picture film; however, the lower range of colors and grayscale supported by home video standards often causes these special effects artifacts to show up when viewed on disc or VHS versions.

In the end (as Luke said), his overconfidence was the Emperor's weakness. Even with all his meticulous planning, the one thing he did not expect was for the tiny, primitive, and (in his opinion) insignificant native creatures of Endor's moon, called Ewoks, to assist the "insignificant" Rebels in capturing the base and ambushing the Imperial stormtroopers, and he may very well have been completely unaware of their presence at all. If the Ewoks had not been there, or had not helped the Rebels' infantry, the stormtroopers would likely have wiped out the small group of Rebel soldiers. The shield generator would have remained operational, preventing the Death Star from being attacked, and the Rebel fleet would have been defenseless against the Death Star's weapon. The Rebel-Ewok alliance allowed the Rebels to destroy the shield generator and attack the internal structure of the Death Star.

Even if the Emperor's plan had succeeded, Luke would have refused to join the dark side after defeating Vader. In the Emperor's infinite arrogance, he also let his guard down near Vader, not expecting Vader to throw him over the ledge of the reactor shaft, killing him. So even if the Rebel Alliance had been destroyed, the Emperor likely would not have lived long enough to reap the rewards.

When Luke refused to fight Vader, the Rebels were losing, but when he confronted him and refused loyalty to the Emperor, the tide of the battle changed. Luke was perhaps representing the understated light side of the Force, in the battle between the dark side of the Force and this light side—"the good side." Had Luke lost or joined the dark side; going by the mystique aspect, the dark side and the Empire (the latter representing the former) would have gained the upper hand and defeated the Rebels. In some of the Expanded Universe, some very powerful Jedi have an ability called "battle meditation". They can sit in a room and meditate while a fierce battle rages, be it on land or in outer space. When meditating, certain Jedi can influence their allies fighting the battle into having faster reflexes, foresight, etc. So if Luke truly was so powerful; once he embraced the light side (or at the very least, rejected the dark side), he may have influenced the Rebellion's success without even knowing it. The Emperor, with whom the Force was strong, may have been very adept at battle meditation and likely assumed that his own ability to carry it out far surpassed Luke's, again reinforcing how arrogant he had become throughout his career.

No. The story that Lando originally died and had his fate altered to survive after disastrous test screenings is an urban legend. In no released version of the script does he die (nor in "The Annotated Screenplays"), and both Jedi writer Lawrence Kasdan and Lando actor Billy Dee Williams have dismissed this rumour. The IGN review of the Star Wars Trilogy box set is incorrect in saying that Lando originally did not make it out in time when Death Star exploded. There were never any test screenings of the film. However, Harrison Ford did strongly argue with George Lucas that his character, Han Solo, should die, quoting himself as having said, "He's got no momma, no poppa. Let's kill him off and add some weight to this thing." Lucas denied Ford his request, preferring to let Han live and have the story end on a much happier note. (In the subsequent novels and other writings of the Expanded Universe; Han and Leia marry and have three children, twins Jaina and Jacen as well as one younger boy, Anakin.)

For the 2004 DVD release, George Lucas decided to replace the ghost of old Anakin played by Sebastian Shaw with Hayden Christensen, who at that time was portraying the younger Anakin in the third prequel, Revenge Of The Sith.

The principle reason for this change comes down to Anakin's choices in Sith. Lucas is making the statement that when Anakin became Darth Vader, Anakin's Jedi spirit was lost. That spirit now appears to Luke in this younger form because Luke has allowed Anakin to fulfill his prophecy and regain his former identity, which takes the physical shape and form that it had before he turned to the dark side of the Force. If image of the old man was retained; it should honestly, considering Anakin's human injuries, be scarred, limbless and deformed. The reason is also possibly because Shaw might appear to be too old in the scene, since Anakin is 46 years old by the end of the film, according to the series' official timeline.

The easiest (and probably the most likely) explanation for this one is that, as far as he knew, his wife—Padmé—had been pregnant with only one baby and that baby had died with her. (By the tale end of the third film, Revenge of the Sith, he was unaware that the baby had successfully been born before Padmé's death). He later deduced, of course, that Luke was his son, and realized that "the baby" had successfully been born before Padmé's death. But because he was never aware that Padmé had given birth to twins, he would not have had any reason to suspect that he had another child. Vader did not realize Luke was his son until sometime after the events of A New Hope. In Return of the Jedi, he does not realize Leia is his daughter until perhaps during his duel with Luke, when, as Luke was hiding, Vader sensed his thoughts and became aware that Luke has a sister that Obi-Wan had hidden from the Sith.

Another reason is that; although the Force is strong with Leia, she is no Jedi and has never learned to control the Force. When trying to shoot down Luke in the Battle of Yavin, in A New Hope, Vader could sense that the Force was strong with the Rebel pilot. After learning that Luke's surname is "Skywalker" as Darth Vader's once was, he must have concluded that the boy must be his offspring. As Leia's surname is Organa, she is supposed to be Bail Organa's daughter, and she has no Force powers that Vader can detect. So he has no reason whatsoever to suspect that she might be his daughter.

Step 1: Palpatine, the Emperor, had commissioned construction on a new Death Star some time before the events in this film, and perhaps shortly after the start of the first (see the FAQ for Star Wars).

Step 2: The Emperor allows the Rebel Alliance to discover that the new Death Star is being built and is also being protected by a deflector shield generator present on the forest moon that the Death Star orbits of the remote planet Endor. He likely also allows the fact, that he will be personally overseeing the final stages of construction, to be leaked, so as to draw out as much of the core leadership of the Alliance (including Mon Mothma) as possible.

Step 3: The Emperor places an entire legion of his elite troops on the Endor's forest moon, the Sanctuary Moon, to ambush the Rebels sent to destroy the shield generator (likely some time before sending Vader to the Death Star to "motivate" its crew to get the battle station's signature weapon, the superlaser, operational).

Step 4: Aboard the Death Star, as the Emperor awaits the Rebel attack, Vader comes and informs him that Luke is on the Sanctuary Moon. Vader is then instructed to bring Luke before the Emperor, in order for them to work together to turn Luke to the dark side of the Force.

Step 5: As Luke resists the urge to angrily attempt an assassination of the Emperor, he is informed by the Emperor that elaborate traps for the Rebels on the Sanctuary Moon and for the Rebels assaulting the Death Star have been set, which would result in the entire Rebellion being wiped out in one fell swoop. The Emperor's goading is successful, and a duel between Luke and Vader is incited.

Step 6: After Luke defeats Vader in a lightsaber duel, the Emperor orders Luke to finish Vader and take Vader's place at the Emperor's side. Once Luke refuses, the Emperor tries to kill him but fails. In his arrogance and being distracted with immense fury (as his whole plot has been foiled), he did not expect Vader to save Luke by throwing the Emperor over a railing into the reactor shaft, ending the reign of Palpatine.

For the most part, yes. Although there is never an explicit mention of a "light side" of the Force in the movies; it is the expected name for what constitutes the opposite of the dark side of the Force. The easiest analogy to make, is if one was to say become a bodybuilder. To do it the Jedi way would mean eating the proper diet, grueling and painful hard work, and strict discipline. To do it the dark side way would mean using steroids. A lot of the principals and dedication are more or less the same, however using the dark side of the Force involves less work to attain the same potential and therefore less discipline in the use of the powers, which can ultimately lead to the user's own demise. Remember what Yoda says in Empire when Luke asks him this very question; Yoda says that the dark side is "quicker, easier, more seductive."

George Lucas has confirmed the dark side is indeed stronger on numerous occasions. He says the dark side is more powerful in the DVD commentary for A New Hope. In The Empire Strikes Back, Luke asked Yoda if the dark side is stronger. Yoda contends that the polarities are evenly matched in strength but that the dark side is easier and quicker to obtain the power it specifically provides. Yoda says this because the Jedi look at the dark side as nothing more than a shortcut and since you have to actually be a Sith and be trained in the Sith arts to understand the dark side's full potential; the Jedi Order not believing the dark side is superior. In the second prequel, Attack of the Clones, Yoda confronts Count Dooku and seems to acknowledge the awesome might of the dark side, stating, "Powerful you have become, Dooku. The dark side I sense in you."

The dark side is easy and stronger but is also very dangerous for the user and not worth the risk of a easy way to power. The dark side gives a lot, but it takes much much more. It works not unlike an addictive drug, in that after years and years of immersion in the dark side it begins to consume the body. Its malevolent power starts causing physical deformity and deterioration such as pigmentation loss in the eyes and skin, hair turning white or falling out, and alterations to the voice of the user reducing it to a deep rasp. Almost all of these side effects can be seen in the Emperor. However, it is still more alluring because it is easily obtained and offers powerful abilities such as Force lighting, which is a power that is almost exclusively a privilege of practitioners of the dark side of the Force.

The ultimate reason why the dark side is more powerful is because it is fueled by intense, aggressive emotions such as hate, anger, fear, sadness, possessiveness and lust for power. At the same time this is also why the dark side will eventually lose, because its users will never become united but rather they will always be at war with one another fighting for supremacy. In short, although not as powerful as the dark side, the light side will always prevail because the Sith's lust for power and their inward thinking of only about themselves will always ultimately be their undoing.

It may be too that the dark side has much more of a corporeal foundation than the light side; in that practitioners of the dark side seek immortality through life extension in the "crude matter" of their worldly bodies, rather than through becoming "one with the Force" and living on as immortal spirits, perhaps "luminous beings", whose interactions with the physical world are quite limited. Furthermore, Jedi might not even represent the light side until they actually vaporize into spirits, instead being neutral; unlike the Sith, who definitely represent the dark side of the Force.

The Emperor wanted to break Luke's humanity, by having the young Jedi commit patricide in a fit of rage thus succumbing to darkness. The Emperor could then somehow claim that, with Darth Vader out of the way, Luke's new power would be the way for Luke to save his own friends (including his sister), but the Emperor would have to make enormous concessions in order to gain Luke's allegiance. They both or Luke alone could figure that in order to keep Leia from the dark side, it would be wise to stay away from her.

While the Emperor would have no guarantee of Luke's personal loyalty, Luke would remain for a time dependent upon the Emperor for the safety of his friends. If Luke would be cooperative, the Emperor could try negotiating a détente with the Rebels and pardoning them of their offenses. Whereas if Luke would be combative, the Emperor could not only destroy the Rebels along with Endor's forest moon but also do egregious harm to Luke, rendering him handicapped in the same manner as Darth Vader.

In the meantime, unless the Emperor had any more tricks up his sleeve or other skills with the Force, he would have no way to prevent the Death Star's deflector shield generator from being destroyed and furthermore little way of preventing the attack upon the the Death Star itself. However, in being jammed and busy engaging the Imperial capitol ships, apparently the attacking Rebel starfighters' pilots' way of knowing the status of the Death Star's deflector shields was through information conveyed through the Rebel capitol ships, the retreat (or destruction) of which could have warranted abortion of the mission altogether. (Upon Han's success, the Admiral of the Rebel fleet told them, "The shield is down! Commence attack on the Death Star's main reactor!" Whereas before, when the Death Star's superlaser was first discovered to be operational, he ordered his staff to have "all craft prepare to retreat", arguing, "Our cruisers can't repel firepower of that magnitude.") From a metaphysical standpoint, the Imperial forces' performance was contingent upon the success of the dark side of the Force, albeit the success of their lord.

At this point in the saga, though; with the Jedi being no more, destruction of the Death Star might not have constituted a significant loss to the Emperor. He would have satisfied the primary directives of the Sith Order, if the last Jedi or Padawan had abandoned the Jedi way once and for all by either turning or dying.

It is likely the New Jedi Order would not have quite as many restrictions, seeing as how Luke was only partially trained by Obi-Wan and Yoda before they both died. Luke would not have known about many of the rules and regulations in the Jedi Order and would have to create new ways as he went along. Even upon discovery of the Jedi Code, as the last surviving Jedi of the time, Luke effectively has supreme purview over the Order. In the Expanded Universe; Jedi are allowed to marry, as Leia marries Han and Luke eventually marries Mara Jade, a former Emperor's Hand.

Nearly fourteen years after its theatrical release, George Lucas revisited the film and created its Special Edition, featuring not only several modified CGI shots but also completely new shots. These were primarily centered on a new musical scene in Jabba's palace, a makeover for the Sarlacc pit creature, and scenes of celebration on various planets as the Galactic Empire falls. You can find a detailed comparison between the original version and the Special Edition with pictures here and here.

In 2004, Lucas did it again, creating another new version for the DVD release of the old Star Wars trilogy. Here, he modified some CGI shots but he also added some things that would link the old trilogy with the prequel one, including: Hayden Christensen as Anakin's ghost (instead of Sebastian Shaw), and a flyover shot of the capitol city of Naboo (home planet to both Anakin's wife and the Emperor, first introduced in The Phantom Menace). Compositing errors on the Rancor scene which had gone uncorrected in the Special Edition were also addressed. A detailed comparison between the Special Edition and the DVD version can be found here (and here).

In 1997, George Lucas solemnly re-released the original trilogy of Star Wars. All three movies of the original trilogy were not only re-released on VHS but also rerun in cinemas to celebrate the first movies' 20th anniversary. These versions (still to this day) offer the most drastic changes to the movies ever made. They were shown in theatres, released and re-released several times, and (of course) shown on television countless times.

A detailed comparison between both versions with pictures can be found here and here.

Despite immense efforts to present the old saga in the best way possible, only the fanboys were not happy with the DVD release. The DVD edition is based on the Special Edition, which was released in theaters and on video, in 1997, and has been the cause of much whining among the fanboys ever since. Only after massive temper tantrums by said fanboys and two years after the first remastered trilogy did Lucasfilm decide to also release the original trilogy (the movies without digital effects). However, besides smaller changes, the second release is not anamorphic but presented in 4:3 aspect, including the obligatory black bars. In order to use the full frame of a 16:9 television set, the picture thus has to be zoomed in, which lowers the image quality significantly.

A detailed comparison between both versions with pictures can be found here and here.

For the recently released Blu-ray discs, George Lucas altered some shots and dialogues of the Star Wars movies again. Probably the most controversial changes were made for Return of the Jedi. Despite several updated effects and corrected goofs, Vader now has some dialogue before he casts the Emperor into the reactor shaft. Originally he was silent, and just turned and picked up the Emperor. Now he says "No... Nooo!" Some fans think this is the same "Nooo!" that Vader shouts in the third prequel, Revenge of the Sith, but it is in fact different.

A detailed comparison between both versions with pictures can be found here and here.

George Lucas has stated that the most recent versions of his films are the definitive versions. The reason for this is because at the time the original films were made, 1977, 1980, and 1983; the technology to bring Lucas' true vision to the screen simply did not exist and the cost to realize it would have been astronomical. So with the technology available in the late '90s through the 2000s; Lucas was able to touch-up, re-envision or create from scratch scenes from his original trilogy. In the view of the creator himself, you will find the newer "special editions" are the definitives.

For one thing, so to try to add more of a dramatic effect to the scene. Since we cannot tell Vader's feelings from his face, his sudden intervention seemed to come somewhat out of the blue. The vocal reaction makes it much clearer that he is definitely emotionally struggling behind the mask before making his decision.

Plus, the yelling of "No!" by a Jedi in response to a death or horrible realization has become something of a trend within the entire saga: Obi-Wan yells it upon Qui-Gon Jinn's death in The Phantom Menace; Anakin while stopping Dooku killing Obi-Wan in Attack of the Clones (and Qui-Gon during Yoda's meditation); Vader in response to hearing of Padmé's death in Revenge of the Sith; Luke in response to Obi-Wan's death in A New Hope; and finally, Luke upon learning Vader's identity in Empire Strikes Back. It has become somewhat of a series trademark, just as the famous line "I have a bad feeling about this", which features in every movie and many spin-off media.

Originally the plan was to release each Star Wars movie, post-converted to 3D every February, starting with The Phantom Menace, in 2012. Though many fans complained about having to invest six years into getting to see each Star Wars movie in 3D. In late 2012, it was announced that both Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith would be released back-to-back in late 2013.

However, once Walt Disney Studios acquired Lucasfilm, and the production of Episode VII was announced. Disney eventually declared that they were postponing the conversion to 3D and release of any more of the previous movies in order to focus on Episode VII. They also added that after production wraps on Episode VII they may continue to release the previous movies in 3D.

Kurtz has claimed that he and George Lucas clashed over how to progress the Star Wars series. Kurtz recalled that after Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, Lucas became convinced that audiences no longer cared about the story and were simply there for thrills and entertainment, and began to deviate from the originally planned plotlines for Return of the Jedi, at which point Kurtz quit the series. Kurtz has also claimed that Lucas changed the emphasis from storytelling to prioritizing toy merchandising. Kurtz has expressed his dissatisfaction with Jedi and the first prequel, The Phantom Menace. Kurtz was particularly displeased with Lucas' decisions in Jedi to resurrect the Death Star and to change the plot outline from one that ended on a "bittersweet and poignant" note to one having a "euphoric ending where everyone was happy". He was probably referring to the originally scripted ending where Han Solo dies while destroying the Endor shield generator, and Luke's duel with Darth Vader leaves him mentally broken, choosing to seek seclusion rather than celebrate the Rebel victory over the Empire.