'Return' of the Jedi Was Not the First Choice; Lucas Wanted 'Revenge'

Die-hard Star Wars fans likely already know this. I thought of myself as one until I heard about this. The name of the third movie released way back in 1993 was not supposed to be Return of the Jedi but Revenge of the Jedi.

What?!?!?!?!



I can see what Lucas was going for. The Empire had really messed the rebels up something fierce in the last installment of the series so Luke, Leia, and Co. had every reason to be pretty angry and out for a little revenge.

But then I can see why the fans back then hated the title enough that Lucas opted for 'Return' rather than 'Revenge.' If Luke is going to be the good kind of Jedi the whole acting out of anger and going for revenge is more of a dark side thing.

And Luke was not the bad guy so that couldn't happen.

However--and don't skewer me too bad for saying this Star Wars fanatics--had Lucas kept going with the series back then instead of selling out to the Mouse three decades later 'Revenge' could have worked.

Go with me on this...

We saw in 'Return' that there was a constant battle waging inside the Jedi between the good and the dark side. We saw that in Luke when he raged out and started kicking his Dad's behind. We saw the opposite change when dear old Dad flipped over to the good and tossed the Emperor over the side.

In the next installment what if the new government began to worry about Luke flipping over like Darth did? What if the people lashed out against Luke for being the offspring of the evil Darth Vader? What if he had trouble dealing with them? What if he got mad after one too many attacks and lashed out?

Basically--what if circumstances evolved for the dark side to overtake the good in Luke and he became worse than the Emperor and Darth combined?

Of course nothing like that can happen now since the 'Revenge' was ditched, but it would have been cool to see the next film deal with the inner demons that come with killing your Dad and being the most powerful Jedi in existence.

Still love what Lucas came up with so I'm not complaining; just thinking out loud. Can't wait to see what you come up with Disney (don't screw it up).

[Yahoo]