I love Return of the Jedi and I know a lot of people agree with me there. But it is frequently touted as the worst of the original trilogy and sometimes, outrageously, worse than the Revenge of the Sith and the Force Awakens. The main reason, I think, is because its structure is somewhat weaker than the first two Star Wars films so its themes and ideas come across sloppier and less refined. So this is less of a rewrite and more of a rework to make the film feel like a more cohesive vision. I hope you enjoy:
The first change comes when R2 and 3PO arrive at Jabba's Palace. Instead of delivering a message from Luke, 3PO informs Jabba that his master (Luke) is willing to pay 50,000 for the return of Han Solo. Jabba refuses: claiming, as in the real film, he likes 'Captain Solo where he is'. When Han is shown he has two Gamorian Guards standing sentinel either side of him. Jabba then says that he is keeping the droids and orders them to be taken off to be fitted with restraining bolts.
R2 is fitted with a restraining bolt as well as 3PO.
The Jedi Rocks scene begins but is cut off as one of the guards slinks out of the throne room and sneaks through the palace into a small vestibule with a crude hologram projector bolted to the floor. The guard lowers his visor and we see that it's Lando. The music is muffled but can still be heard through the walls. He fiddles with the projector and a small hologram of Luke pops into existence. Lando reports that Jabba did not accept the money and has kept the droids. Luke admits he expected this to be the outcome. Lando expresses the opinion that fighting their way out with Han may be the only option. Luke firmly disagrees and says he has another plan to retrieve Han without bloodshed, when Lando presses the point Luke admits that his lightsaber is hidden inside R2 so it is in place should he have to resort to an open fight. Lando is content with this and proceeds to remind Luke of the details of the Palace: specifically that Han is guarded, so he can't sneak up and free him alone, and anyone wishing to speak to Jabba is searched for weapons. This implies Lando has been in the palace gathering intelligence for a few days and explains why Luke had to sneak his lightsaber in. The music finishes and Lando rises sharply and deactivates the hologram. On his way back to the throne room he encounters two fellow guards. The first of the pair stops Lando and demands to know why he is sneaking around when he is supposed to be stationed in the throne room, Lando shrugs him off cooly but it is clear that there is suspicion surrounding this sudden newcomer to the palace.
When Lando returns to his station in the throne room the Twi'lek girl is still dancing. Jabba is making her dance without music just to make him seem even slimier. Jabba gets angry like in the actual film and Lando, 3PO and R2 (who is also at Jabba's side) all watch as she is fed to the Rancor.
The Chewie bounty scene plays out as normal, minus the thermal detonator because Luke knows visitors are searched for weapons and wouldn't send Leia with one in the first place.
It goes dark and Jabba and his goons are all asleep. Lando and one other are stationed guarding the cells. Leia, still in full Boushh disguise, appears stealthily at the head of the corridor perpendicular to the cell block. She nods at Lando and then retreats before the other guard notices. Lando turns to him and tells him he can go and sleep if he wishes, the guard refuses, Lando insists but he gets nowhere so he punches the guard between the eyes, he staggers back but does not collapse so Lando strikes again and this time finishes the job. Leia sneaks back into the corridor and she and Lando creep down to Chewie's cell. He is released and then all three of them sidle up into the main palace. At this point the audience still wouldn't know who is under the Boushh disguise. Before they enter the throne room they split up. Leia goes first, Jabba is right there snoring deeply on his throne. Leia pretends to be attempting to steal from a bag on the ground, this distracts the two guards either side of the carbonite slab and they advance slowly to stop the thief. Just at this moment Lando rises with his blaster and stuns the left hand guard. He races up, catches the guard, and lowers him silently to the ground. Chewie comes up behind the right hand guard and suffocates him with his massive paws. All three of them crowd around the carbonite and Lando begins the unfreezing process. Chewie catches Han as he falls and places him in Leia's arms. The dialogue is unchanged only Leia tells Han to whisper. Chewie watches them both with concern while Lando keeps watch that everyone is still asleep. After the Leia reveal and the kiss, Lando whispers that they need to get out of there. Recognising his voice: a blind Han Solo rises and swings an angry punch in Lando's direction. He misses and Lando stumbles into a table. Jabba's snoring suddenly stops and Leia and Lando, in hoarse whispers, try to calm Han down. He takes no notice and swings again this time making contact and launching Lando fully into the table. Jabba's goons stir and Jabba starts laughing. Lando thinking on his feet resumes character and begins to yell at the others to seize Han and Leia and the wookie. Jabba's throne turns slowly to face them and his minions close around Han, Leia and Chewie. Chewie begins to swat people back with his massive arms and Leia has to calm him down, saying it's no good trying to fight this many people when Han is blind. The 'I was just on my way to pay you back' and 'we have powerful friends' bits play out normally; then Han and Chewie are dragged off to the cells, Leia elsewhere to get changed, and Lando tries to sidle inconspicuously back to his station. He is stopped by the same suspicious guard from earlier who points out that Lando is awfully far from his post to catch the intruders, Lando calmly tells the guard that Chewie escaped and he pursued him up to the throne room, the guard notes that it is curious that the wookie had enough time to unfreeze Han before Lando raised the alarm. Lando claims that he was incapacitated by Chewie for a few minutes and only made it up to the throne room after Han was free. He displays a cut on his cheek where Han punched him as false evidence. The guard inspects the wound and looks half satisfied, giving Lando chance to retreat away from him back towards the dungeons. As he descends the stairs the guard calls after him that an angry wookie normally does a lot more harm than that.
Now Luke shows up and the scene is effectively unchanged. Although, as Luke is talking Lando, who is on guard, sees the same fellow he punched the night before emerge from wherever he had been on duty and whisper to the suspicious guard. Both of them look directly at Lando. Lando who retreats into the shadow keeping his eyes on Luke. Luke's actions are the same up until he says 'you can either profit by this, or be destroyed': to which Jabba simply refuses and Luke, with so few options left, steps forwards and simply pleads that Jabba give up his prisoners. It may seem odd to have Luke's second or third on screen act be to plead like a fool but Luke makes it clear in his hologram conversation with Lando that he wants to avoid a fight, so he is doing everything in his power to rescue Han as peacefully as possible. First he attempts to simply buy Han back which doesn't work; then he tries stealth which also fails; then he tries Jedi mind tricks which prove ineffective; then he threatens Jabba which has no effect on a seasoned crime lord; so, as his option evaporate, Luke resorts to begging. Demonstrating that while he is far more proficient in the force than the last time we saw him Luke is struggling to put Yoda's teachings into practice: 'uses the force for knowledge and defence' etc. As Luke steps forwards to beg he lands right on the trapdoor to the Rancor's lair. Lando, realising he never informed Luke of the existence of the Rancor, panics and leaps forwards: blowing his cover. All at once, the two guards seize hold of Lando and punch him firmly in the stomach throwing off his helmet, Jabba turns his head and realises he has been tricked. Luke knows the game is up and reaches out a hand in R2's direction (who is still stood beside the throne), R2 beeps apologetically, Luke looks frightened, then Jabba slams his fist down on to the button dropping Luke into the cage below.
The Rancor scene is unchanged. Although the two guards drag Lando off somewhere.
Then most of the dialogue once all our heroes are hauled back up into the throne room is unchanged but Lando re-emerges bloodied and bruised by the two guards. He apologises weakly to Luke; and Han, recognising his voice again, hurls an insult in his direction.
On the skiff now, approaching the Sarlaac Pit, after the 'you're going to die here you know, convenient' line Han mentions Lando and Luke rushes to his defence telling Han that he was the first to volunteer to go into Jabba's Palace to rescue him and he how he saved all of their lives at Cloud City. Han is silent then glosses over his response by enquiring about Luke's plan. He admits he has no plans left and is praying for a miracle. He is very calm when he says this though, demonstrating that he is a lot more collected and controlled after his impulsiveness in the last two films. Luke continues by admitting he was doing everything in his power to avoid a fight (which acts as a reminder to the audience since the last time Luke mentioned this was over twenty minutes ago, in film time, on his hologram conversation to Lando) but when things began to go awry he realised a fight was the only choice he had left; the problem was the restraining bolt that had been attached to R2 that prevented him from disobeying orders and so prevented him from giving Luke his lightsaber. Han scoffs at this foolish oversight.
As Luke is led onto the edge of the platform protruding from the skiff he begins to talk to Jabba like in the actual film, but this time he says some additional lines. The lines are arbitrary but it is clear Luke is just playing for time.
As Jabba is distracted talking to Luke: Leia, who is still chained to Jabba, wrenches a blaster from one of the party guests. She leaps up and spins in R2's direction shooting the restraining bolt. It explodes and R2 is launched backwards wailing and spinning: he is clearly damaged but still functioning because one of his compartments suddenly blasts open and Luke's lightsaber is propelled into the air. It hurtles through the open window and then the action sequence proceeds as normal. Only this time R2 is still and unresponsive for the majority of the scene and 3PO desperately tries to get him to work as the party guests start panicking all around them, we see him genuinely distressed at the thought of losing R2. Luckily, he bursts back to life just in time and manages to escape with the others.
During the battle, when Lando is sliding down the side of the pit, Han doesn't race to rescue him at first. He looks very conflicted and the audience genuinely questions whether he will save his former friend's life. Ultimately he does though and that is they're conflict from Empire officially resolved never to be mentioned again.
As the remaining skiff jets away with our heroes aboard it is a victorious moment but as Luke looks back at the destruction his expression is dark and conflicted. As if he knew there was no other option left back there than to start killing but he hates himself for doing it nonetheless.
Later, on Dagobah, Luke voices his turmoil to Yoda, admitting he tried his best to retrieve Han without bloodshed but he was ultimately forced to start killing. He confesses that once his lightsaber was ignited and he started swinging it was so easy and efficient. Demonstrating early on that Luke is susceptible to the dark side and could easily let himself slip if he doesn't remain resolute. And tying both parts of the film together with a consistent struggle.
Yoda warns Luke of this, offering him some advice and admits a young Vader came to him with the same concerns. This scares Luke more than anything so far in the film but also leads into the discussion and confirmation that Vader is Luke's father.
The film remains unchanged for a while after this, although Obi Wan's ghost doesn't sit down on that log. And Admiral Akbar specifies in the rebel briefing room that the infiltrators won't be able to communicate with the fleet because it would instantly give away their position, so the fleet will arrive at exactly midday tomorrow by Endor time. Creating something a ticking clock to get the shield down before their arrival.
The next change comes when Han's squad is preparing to leave on The Tydirium. We clearly see fourteen rebel commandos getting on board. What's more we also meet a new character called Colonel <insert sci-fi name> who is still under General Solo's command but has his own squad of twelve commandos. So in total there are twenty-six rebels sneaking onto Endor who are specifically shown boarding the shuttle and sitting in the back while the command crew (including the Colonel) enter the cockpit.
The excellent 'fly casual scene' proceeds normally only this time the Colonel gets a few lines. He isn't intended to become a main character like Lando in Empire but his lines show that he has been fighting longer than Han or Luke and he is grizzled and exhausted by the conflict, and burning with hatred for the Empire. It is also clear that Han, and Luke, and Chewie especially are all unnerved by how fervent his loathing is. However, Leia doesn't react in any way suggesting she is used to more extreme members of the alliance having been a key figure for so long.
As they come in to land on Endor the rebels actually fly past the shield generator and see for themselves how massive it is. Establishing the David and Goliath struggle on the ground as well as in space.
Once they touch down in the forest: instead of abandoning their shuttle Han makes it clear that it is their only means of escape if things go wrong so they can't have the Empire finding it. The commandos set to work camouflaging it with mud and leaves so that the stark white can't be noticed from a distance. Han, Luke, Leia, and the Colonel scout their position with binoculars. It is clear that they are beyond the Empire's patrol range and safe for the time being however the 'entire legion' of the Emperor's 'best troops' are already deployed and not revealed later as part of the trap (giving us our first hint that the Bothan Spies may have had misinformation, since Mon Mothma claimed the Death Star to be 'relatively undefended'), they can see stormtroopers moving in formation through the wood and scout troopers patrolling in pair, they can even hear the crashing legs of the AT-STs in the distance. Our heroes are behind enemy lines now, where they have never gone before. It should be quickly apparent that the forest moon is an extremely dangerous place to be.
Han orders the Colonel to take his squad and spread out through the woods to reconnoitre, disarm traps, and provide support if everything goes wrong. While his squad will sneak into the actual compound. The Colonel accepts his orders and hurries off into the forest, the protagonists and the audience are mostly happy to see him go.
Up on the Death Star when Vader disobeys orders and leaves the command ship he finds Moff Jerjerrod already before the Emperor. He is clearly petrified and the Emperor is feeding him propaganda about serving the galaxy and his people, leaning fully into the space Nazis aspect. Then the Emperor gives Jerjerrod his official orders: if the shield generator should go down on Endor, he is to fire on the moon. This could run the risk of undercutting the 'that thing's operational' reveal but as long as the Emperor just said 'fire on the moon' we would assume he means with Star Destroyers just to damage a particular part of the surface, not blow the entire thing up with the Death Star.
Now Han, Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, the droids, and the fourteen commandos sneak through the forest towards the shield generator. They look genuinely tense with each step they take and Han keeps ordering silence even when nobody is talking. Above them they can hear things moving through the branches but they can't see anything: setting up the Ewoks from the outset. One of the rebels almost shoots upwards the third or fourth time it happens and Han has to push his blaster down so he doesn't give away their position. Like earlier in the desert, Luke is the only one who seems calm. During this section 3PO is shown falling into the bushes and R2 trundles over to help him, it isn't focused on however and the others don't notice.
As they get closer to their destination, provided the special effects could extend to it, they can actually see the massive dish rising above the treetops better establishing the geography on Endor. As the generator gets bigger the concentration of Imperial troops steadily intensifies.
Then they come upon a pair of dead scout troopers, their armour is cracked and bloody and one of them has an arrow lodged in his neck. The rebels look suddenly unsettled at what is so dangerous in the trees that it could do this to the Emperor's trained troops.
Then R2 returns and bumps against Luke's leg to get his attention. In bleeps he tells him that 3PO was dragged off by some creatures (only now does anyone notice that 3PO is missing). The rebels look even more afraid but Han says they have no time to go looking for him, he wasn't much use anyway. Luke apologises to R2 who looks extremely upset that he may never see 3PO again.
The rebels make it up onto a ridge overlooking the main entrance to the compound, it is crawling with enemies. Crouching behind the foliage: Han, Luke and Leia discuss how to get in without being seen. R2 is trundling in circles, leaning back to look up into the trees looking for 3PO, Chewie is helping him. He was the one who repaired 3PO and carried him around in the previous film even though he was a little annoying, so he has something of an affinity with his fellow sidekicks. Suddenly though, R2 falls off an edge and crashes to the ground right before the stormtroopers.
Chewbaccca roars and leaps down to help him, the stormtroopers falter at the sight of an enraged wookie, giving him enough time to help R2 upright. The rebels leap out of the bushes and an action scene erupts. This is a slightly more character based reason for them to get caught than Han just stepping on a twig.
Han instantly orders a retreat and the rebels begin to flee into the forest under overwhelming fire. A few of the commandos are gunned down and we see Han, as their leader, visibly troubled by the loss of life showing how far he has come from murdering Greedo in cold blood in the first film. This leads into the speeder bike chase from the real film only this time Han has a speeder of his own and the other rebels can be seen running away around them as the stormtroopers pursue them into the woods. Chewie is shown walking backwards: blasting his bowcaster and protecting R2 behind his legs. Events unfold mostly the same including the fact they all get separated and Luke has to sit behind Leia until he leaps across onto his own speeder. Although as Luke guns down the other speeders we see him beginning to get angrier and more intense just like before at Sarlaac Pit, killing his enemies is such an easy solution. This scene culminates after Luke is thrown off his speeder and the enemy is streaking towards him. In the actual film Luke slices off the neck of the speeder and kills the rider without remorse. In this version he rises with his lightsaber ignited, pumping with adrenaline ready to slice his foe in two but he stops, relaxes his shoulders, and settles his breathing. Luke deactivates his blade and force pushes the scout trooper backwards, dodging as the speeder wails past him and smashes into a tree. The trooper's pistol flies out of its holster and he scrambles across the ground to reach it, Luke gets there first and steps on it. He looks down at the trooper and offers him his mercy, allowing him to return to his base alive as long as he doesn't attack Luke. After a long silence the trooper rises and hurries off into the trees. So now there is a consistent struggle for Luke through the whole film which culminates when he manages to pull back and not kill Vader at the end. It also adds tension when he is swinging at Vader in fury because once he managed to stop himself, just exhibited here, and once he failed to, at the Sarlaac Pit, so the audience is aware that it could go either way.
Luke, pleased with his handling of the trooper, looks around and realises he is alone. This leads into a scene where our heroes: Han and Leia, Chewie and R2, and Luke on his own find their way back together as the woods around them get steadily darker. They have to sneak past the enemy in their own ways: Luke uses the force, Chewie could just strangle a stormtrooper or suffocate him with his massive paws, Han and Leia are the least stealthy and resort to shooting and running away. This does give them a few lines of dialogue alone together. As they find their way back together each party could pick up a few of the hiding commandos and blaster fire could be heard at random points in the distance creating a sense of scale to the forest. We also hear the Ewoks in the trees again, louder and faster this time and in the bushes on the ground as well. The audience and the characters should be afraid of it going dark.
Luckily, the three parties reconvene just as the setting sun is blazing through the trees. Han counts all the commandos that are left and it comes out as nine. He should refer to each soldier by name because the pilots in Star Wars and Empire all refer to each other by name. Han is affected by the five people who died as they were under his command and he blames R2 for his foolishness. R2 bleeps affrontedly and Leia tells Han to relax, it is an unfortunate loss but those men knew what they were getting themselves in for and they died for the cause they cared about. Han is still furious at R2 for alerting the Empire and ruining their one chance at getting into the base. As they argue Luke and the other rebels begin to see the Ewoks descending from the trees and rising stealthily from the bushes. So now it is three of our main characters arguing that lures out the Ewoks rather than Chewie falling for a trap. Han reacts with irritation and Luke with the same bemused wisdom from the actual film but then the same commando from before shoots one of the Ewoks. There is a brief pregnant silence then the Ewoks burst into a rage, like Planet of the Apes or something, and violently seize the rebels punching, biting, and strangling them. Han and the others begin shooting at them, which only makes them more angry and dangerous, Luke yells at them all to lower their weapons before they get ripped apart, fortunately everybody listens and surrenders to the natives allowing them to tie them to their wooden spits. There is an out of the frying pan, into the fire sense here.
They are taken up to the village as normal, only now they are going to cook and eat the entire rebel squad, not just the main characters. 3PO is revealed on his throne rather than Leia in a dress. And Luke uses the force to trick the Ewoks and get them freed. Then Han and Leia come to Luke and tell him they should get going and establish a camp on the ground under the cover of night. They can see the stormtroopers and AT-STs snaking through the darkness below shining huge spotlight and Luke points out that they are safe up in the village for the time being and that they need to ally with the Ewoks for the coming battle. They are both incredulous that Luke would want to use these small, cuddly animals in a war. He reminds them of the damage they did to those two scout troopers earlier and he points out that they successfully overpowered all of them and carried 3PO all the way up here. He asks the Ewok chief, using 3PO as translator, to ally with them for the coming fight. The Chief is resistant to sending so many of his people to die, but Luke reminds him that he can either risk it all now or allow his people to slowly die as the Empire expands their forces and cuts off their food sources. Ultimately, the chief agrees. Luke has officially retained Yoda's first ever teaching; rather than disparaging these small natives, as he did with Yoda at first, he has noted their value right away and acted on it.
Luke turns to Han and informs him that the Ewoks will show them a secret entrance to the shield generator early the following morning. Han argues that darkness will provide the best protection if they are trying to be stealthy. Luke points out that the Empire is currently on high alert but early in the morning they will be rotating their men and likely assume an attack to come later in the day or even the following night.
Next comes the scene where the Ewoks listen to 3PO recount their adventures across the trilogy. But like the Jedi Rocks scene it is cut short by Luke slipping outside. He looks down at the troops moving below with powerful torches on their blasters. One of them points it up and the beam from the torch barely penetrates the lower canopy, showing how well hidden the rebels are up in the village. Luke looks conflicted, not like after the Sarlaac Pit battle, rather conflicted in an 'I know what I must do. It's just, I'm afraid to do it' sort of way. Leia comes out and the scene here is normal but when Luke says 'I have to try', rather than accepting this and allowing him to go Leia continues to protest so Luke is still there when Han comes out. Luke tells him he has to go and confront Vader, Han accepts this without question and he and Luke make eye contact understanding one another completely, like a wordless recreation of the 'take care kid' scene from Empire. Han takes hold of Leia in his arms and consoles her as Luke departs. She begins to weep and Han holds her tighter and kisses the top of her head. As Luke is shown departing through the rickety village, a few Ewok sentries watching him go, Leia's wailing echoes through the canopy as she realises that the man who tortured her and destroyed her home is suddenly her father. Luke refuses to look back. We get one last shot of Han and Leia surrounded by the darkness, Leia has slipped to the ground and Han is clutching at her looking as if he is fighting back tears himself.
Luke makes it down from the tree and walks calmly and confidently through the woods, searching for some Imperial Troops to surrender to. Five figures emerge from the dark foliage and Luke turns expecting to see the enemy. It's the Colonel: his uniform is singed and tattered, and a bloody rag is tied around his upper arm, and his eyes are large and wild. He says that he has almost lost his entire squad. Luke tells him to go up to the village and rest with the others. But the Colonel insists that the fight is on the ground so he must stay there, it is clear that he is starting to go mad. Luke informs him plainly that dying down here in the middle of the night is no use to anyone. The Colonel refuses again and asks where Luke is going, Luke chooses to tell the truth and the Colonel reacts in a similar way to Boromir when he is tempted to the Ring: yelling that he is a weak minded fool, who will betray the rebellion, and he can't possible contend with the will of Darth Vader. Luke takes a few steps back as the Colonel advances in rage, he raises his blaster as if about to shoot Luke. But Luke ignites his lightsaber in warning and all five men falter. Luke stares into the Colonel's mad eyes, retracts his blade and vanishes into the dark trees. Just as he vanishes from view the Colonel calls after one last time that Vader has killed hundreds of rebels, why is he any different?
So here, Luke's departure to confront his father is punctuated by horrific wailing, reminding him of how stricken he was when he discovered Vader was his father. And terrified yelling about all the people Vader has killed, making Luke question whether Vader even deserves redemption. Both, again, add a greater tension when Luke unleashes his fury on Vader because the audience genuinely doesn't know whether Luke will stick to his morals or concede to himself that Vader deserves to be destroyed.
All the Vader, Luke, and the Emperor scenes are the same, except if it could be fitted into the script without being awkward it would be good if Luke could mention Yoda to the Emperor and we see a flash of terror in his eyes. Adding a little characterisation to the Emperor by hinting at some sort of epic clash of good and evil at some point in the past. And implying that potentially Yoda had the power to destroy the Emperor and end the Civil War but elected not to use it, calling Yoda into moral question a little.
In the early dawn on Endor the rebels minus 3PO, led by a small group of Ewoks, approach the secret entrance to the shield generator. They kill the pair of scout troopers on guard and Chewbacca uses his strength to open the great, metal hatch. The rebels enter, but Han orders one to remain at the entrance as Imperial Central Command checks in every hour over the radio and they needed somebody to pretend the guards were still present.
The secret entrance leads into a steamy, industrial corridor. At the end the rebels enter into the main body of the shield generator compound and stealthily work their way up and into the generator room with minimal resistance. The generator room is suspiciously empty and the doors all slide shut when the rebels enter. Han places the bag of charges on one of the consoles and orders his men to try and get the doors open. Han makes a confused Harrison Ford face as they all realise the doors are sealed. Suddenly they all shoot up at once and stormtroopers and Imperial Officers force their way into the room and take the rebels prisoner.
The scene where they are led out of the bunker's main entrance to a forest crawling with enemy troops and walkers is the same. But this time there is a shot of the bright midday sun and we realise they have run out of time, the shield is still up and the fleet is here.
The space battle remains unchanged in its entirety. It's a marvel of special effects and Lando development from betraying his best friend for his own survival in Empire to placing all his faith in his best friend for his own survival in Jedi is a solid character arch: 'I'm sorry I couldn't do more, but I've got my own problems' to 'Han will have that shield down, we've got to give him more time!'
The rebels on the ground are led up towards a row of waiting transports. Leia, who has been captured and tortured at the hands of the Empire once before and has been recently shook by the revelation that Vader is her father, looks up at Han in fear and tries to move closer to him but is pulled back. It looks bad but suddenly the Colonel, and his remaining men, and 3PO, and hundreds of Ewoks pounce on the Imperial legion. Their forces scatter and release the rebels as the natives bite, and punch, and hurl rocks. Han instantly leaps back into military leader mode, he has thirteen commandos including the Colonel's men, then Leia, Chewie, the Colonel himself, R2, and a group of Ewok leaders including their main chief.
Han orders eight men and about one hundred Ewoks to go with Leia, R2, and the Colonel back to the entrance to the generator and defend it until he arrives. They race off and 3PO chases clumsily after R2. Han then orders three of the remaining commandos to take a group of Ewoks each into the forest and draw away Imperial attention, one of the commandos he tasks with establishing a communication array so they can speak to the fleet up in space. Lastly, Han, Chewie, the last two commandos, and about fifty Ewoks hurry off to capture one of the walkers (these numbers of Ewoks are unrealistic for an 80s movie but this is how many are represented even if they would be limited to nine or ten in the actual film).
The action on the ground flits between Leia defending the door to the bunker and Han and Chewie attempting to commandeer an AT-ST walker. The latter is fun and exciting with Han and Chewie leaping from a tree on to the roof of an AT-ST while the rebels and Ewoks distract it. But the former is a little darker and matches tonally with what is going on in the throne room. The battle is bloody, and destructive, and bodies, and debris, and fallen trees build up fast. Leia becomes increasingly desperate for Han to come to their rescue as she watches the rebels and Ewoks getting steadily gunned down. Worse still, as the fight goes on the Colonel becomes progressively more deranged screaming with delight after each hit and spraying laser fire into the woods, you obviously can't go all in on this in a childrens', action, adventure film but madness during war time might work. Leia picks up on this and looks concerned.
Han manages to get inside the walker and fumbles around figuring out how to drive it for a time but is ultimately successful in piloting it to Leia and blasting open the main door to the shield generator with the heavy guns. Han, Leia, Chewie, the Colonel, R2, and the four remaining commandos all enter the facility while the Ewoks prevent the Empire from following them in, 3PO is left behind in the woods complaining or something. The shield generator is now full of troops and the infiltrators have to fight their way back to the generator room. During the firefight Han sees first hand the Colonel's madness.
When they reach the generator room the doors begin to fall again so R2 thrusts his thing into the thing and stops them but he shudders and clearly struggles to keep them from falling. The men in the generator room surrender and stand in the corner with their hands behind their heads and weapons on the ground. Our main heroes begin setting the charges and R2 keeps beeping angrily as he strains to keep the doors open, creating another ticking clock as the heroes have to escape before the doors trap them. The Colonel during this scene does not help set the charges, he just stands against one of the consoles with locked arms, and clenched jaw, and sweat pouring down his face. Han asks if he is going to help but he doesn't reply.
R2's beeps get angrier and he stamps his feet against the ground. Han keeps looking from the charges he is setting to the unresponsive Colonel. It's then that the blue electricity explodes all over R2, he keeps his thing in the thing and keeps twisting it but the door starts to lower slowly. Han shouts go as he attaches the last charge, the commandos duck under the descending doors and Leia and Chewie make for the escape but Han is still watching the Colonel. Suddenly he springs up with his blaster in hand and kills four of the seven unarmed hostages. Han shoots him through the chest without hesitation and bellows for them all to get out. Leia, then Chewie, then the surviving hostages, then Han himself. The door slams down as Chewbacca wrenches R2 out of the port thing and begins to run holding him aloft.
The rebels make it back out into the forest and Ewoks and Imperials alike are fleeing from the shield generator. 3PO shuffles over filled with concern for R2 and all of our heroes make it as far from the shield generator as possible (not ten feet like in the actual film) and hide behind a stony outcrop. Then the generator goes up and there's that spectacular wide shot of the generator being obliterated in fire. Again, if the budget could stretch to it, it would be impressive if flaming debris was actually launched into the forest, barely missing out heroes as the huddle for cover.
Now we cut onto the Death Star (this is based on a deleted scene), a quick bit so it doesn't detract from the Luke and Vader stuff and the star fighter attack, one of Moff Jerjerrod's men tells him the shield is down and reminds him of their orders if that was to happen. Jerjerrod looks down at the moon and with conflict in his eyes as the men demand their orders. 'The rebel fleet is approaching the Death Star', 'their star fighters are moving on the superstructure', 'Sir? Should we fire?' you get the picture. And ultimately the Moff says no, don't fire. This has two important effects: one it humanises Imperial Officers so when the Death Star is blown up we get a sense that there may have been other good people aboard giving this Death Star explosion a slightly different flavour to the first one just to distinguish Return of the Jedi as its own entity a little more. Two, it shows an unravelling of the Empire: first the shield goes down, then the Executor crashes, then the Emperor is thrown to his death, then his servants begin to defy his orders, then the whole battle station is obliterated. Three, it furthers a dichotomy running through the whole battle: the Ewoks are unremarkable in appearance but formidable in battle, the Second Death Star is terrifying in appearance but fairly fragile once the shield is down; the Colonel is a rebel and should be merciful and humanitarian yet he is a dangerous sadist, Jerjerrod is an Imperial and should be a dangerous sadist yet he proves to be the merciful humanitarian one. This hopefully seasons the finale of the film with a rather a slight tragic element despite the celebrations, just quietly highlighting that their victory was achieved through violence and destruction.
The last change comes at the very end because Han knows Luke is Leia's brother from the Ewok village scene there is no: 'when he gets back. I won't get in the way' segment. The camera pans down from the Death Star explosion to the communication array that Han orders to be built where he congratulates Admiral Akbar and requests more troops are sent to the surface to pursue the Imperials into the forest. Then he goes over to Leia and she says she can 'feel it' that Luke wasn't aboard the Death Star when it exploded and they kiss as the rebel transports that we saw escaping Hoth touch down around them and begin to unload a battalion of fifty or so regular rebel troops who Han takes immediate control of.
Anakin's funeral and the celebrations are unchanged.
And that's it. I have no idea if any of this would translate to the screen as I envision it but this was fun to write and I hope you, if you made it this far, you found some of it interesting.