The official Star Wars YouTube has uploaded the original teaser trailer for Richard Marquand’s 1983 film RETURN OF THE JEDI, the third instalment in the original trilogy. Interestingly, the trailer shows the title as ‘Revenge Of The Jedi’.
The story goes that screenplay co-writer Lawrence Kasdan thought the word ‘return’ sounded too weak, so he replaced it with ‘revenge’. This new name was attached to the trailer along with the first poster, of which thousands were distributed. Oddly, if you look closely at the poster, you’ll see that Luke and Vader have swapped lightsabers. No one really knows why.
As the posters were going out and fans were eagerly anticipating ‘Revenge Of The Jedi’, George Lucas decided to overrule Kasdan’s decision and ‘return’ to his original title which he felt was more appropriate. The 6,800 copies of the poster that were still lying around at LucasFilm were sold off to members of the Star Wars fan club and are today a much sought-after collector’s item, going for a few hundred dollars each. The third film of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, REVENGE OF THE SITH, was titled in allusion to this.
The trailer, accompanied by John Williams’ magnificent score, shows some great moments from the classic film. It is fantastic to re-experience how fans, having seen and loved THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, had their first taste of what was in store for their beloved characters. There’s a battle in a forest! Luke Skywalker (sky)walking the plank! A pit with a mouth! A Wilhelm scream! But what is that fish-faced thing and why does it sense a trap? We’ll have to wait until 1983 to find out.
Here’s the trailer:
And here’s the poster, for you to chuckle to yourself about the lightsaber mistake:
Source: Star Wars YouTube
