A trilogy that instantly revolutionized the possibilities for blockbuster cinema while enchanting audiences the world over with its sci-fi fantasy wonder and its engrossing tale of good standing in staunch defiance of a tyrannical evil, the original Star Wars trilogy is among the most illustrious and beloved cinematic releases of all time. In fact, its rousing narrative grandiosity and its exceptional production craft have seen the three films age as timeless classics that continue to find more fans with each passing generation.
Having said this, the original trilogy still contains the occasional pitfall that, over time—and through many many rewatches—has become more noticeable. From glaring continuity issues to peculiar character moments, and even—perhaps unfairly—to retroactive faults that have emerged as the saga has gone on, these flaws can make even the most diehard Star Wars fans wince and cringe.
10 The Emperor’s Demise Isn’t Final
Offending Film: 'Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi' (1983)
Image via Lucasfilm The climax to Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi is one of the most dramatic scenes in the entirety of the saga. Having bested his father, in combat, Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) is being tortured by Force lightning by the Emperor (Ian McDiarmid). In a heroic turn, Darth Vader (James Earl Jones), unable to watch his son die, betrays his master and throws him down a shaft, sustaining his own fatal injuries in the process. The only problem with the scene is the Emperor isn’t killed.
Admittedly, this flaw should be leveled at the Star Wars sequels that undid Vader’s sacrificial heroism with the woefully inept line, “somehow, Palpatine returned.” Unfortunately, the pitiful twist in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has forever cheapened the climax of what is one of cinema’s greatest trilogies.
Release Date May 25, 1983
Director Richard Marquand
Runtime 131 Minutes
9 Boba Fett is Poorly Used
Offending Film: The Whole Trilogy
Image via Lucasfilm Ltd. There is a growing division within the Star Wars fanbase that argues Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch) is overrated. While that idea can’t be endorsed given the character’s menacing demeanor, his dark intrigue, and the fact that he uses a freaking jetpack, the notion that his impact on the story doesn’t match his iconic standing in the franchise does have something of a basis.
Despite being revered as one of the most badass characters in the galaxy, Boba Fett never actually kills anyone. In fact, he doesn’t really do much of anything aside from loiter dramatically on the tail of Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and co before tumbling into the guts of the sarlacc. His influence on pop-culture is no coincidence, but it is baffling that such a striking character would be conceived yet have such little impact on the story. This waste of a great secondary antagonist isn’t just disappointing in its own right, but underwhelming in its impact on the larger story, particularly Solo’s arc in the final film…
8 Han Solo Has No Arc in 'Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi'
Offending Film: 'Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi' (1983)
Image via Lucasfilm While it doesn’t tie directly into Boba Fett’s demise, one can’t help but think of the prospect of Han Solo and Boba Fett’s apparent rivalry being settled in an old-fashioned standoff. It would have at least provided a solution to the fact that, realistically, Solo has nothing to do in Return of the Jedi. A possible explanation for this is that there were drafts of the script where Solo would die early in the film, and while everyone is grateful that didn’t happen, the flatness of his arc is quite jarring to look back on.
It feels overly harsh to call him pointless, but after being rescued from Jabba’s Palace, Solo becomes a bit of a bystander before becoming just an ordinary solider in the Battle of Endor. He may get the occasional action moment, but his progression is that he is rescued from Jabba’s imprisonment, then rescued as he bumbles blindly around a fight sequence, then rescued again as he is nearly eaten by Ewoks, before ultimately pouting in jealousy at Leia’s (Carrie Fisher) perceived love of Luke. Even worse, he doesn’t even get a scene in the Millennium Falcon throughout the entire film.
7 Luke and Leia’s Kiss
Offending Film: 'Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back' (1980)
Image via Lucasfilm While it was put to film before George Lucas even conceived of the possibility that Luke and Leia may be twin siblings, the smooch between the two characters in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back is quite possibly the single most infamous kiss in cinematic history. In isolation, the scene works. Growing annoyed at Han’s scrappy pestering, Leia kisses Luke as a means to make Han jealous, a ploy that works and leaves Luke very content with himself, grinning from ear to ear as he rocks his head back.
What doesn’t work is that the scene is now watched with audiences aware of the fact that Luke and Leia are arguably the two most famous fictional siblings film has ever seen. The scene is not just an awkward beat, but a jarring and cringe-worthy moment that actually distracts viewers and breaks the immersion of the story. It is the most jolting and unpleasant scene to watch when revisiting the original trilogy.
Release Date June 18, 1980
Runtime 124 minutes
6 The Passage of Time in 'Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back'
Offending Film: 'Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back' (1980)
Image via Lucasfilm Following a breathtaking opening battle sequence on the snow planet Hoth, The Empire Strikes Back splits its focus between two stories. Luke travels to Dagobah to continue his Jedi training under Master Yoda (Frank Oz) while the rest of the heroes evade the Imperial fleet before seeking refuge in Cloud City to repair the Millennium Falcon. Given the cross-cutting of the two co-adjacent main plot threads, the time over which the film transpires is nigh impossible to figure out.
It feels as though Luke trains under Yoda for a matter of days before venturing off to save his friends from Darth Vader’s ambush. If this is true, how can he possibly battle Vader with such competence in the climax? If the two stories unfold over a longer period of time, however, why is Han waiting so long for repairs? A simple explanation is all that was needed, and yet the efforts to cover up the lapse retrospectively have inspired a sprawling mess of fan theories and shoehorned, semi-official attempts to explain it. Four decades on, audiences still have no idea what to actually make of the time passage of the film.
5 Luke Grieves Obi-Wan Kenobi More Than Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru
Offending Film: 'Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope' (1977)
Image via Lucasfilm Audiences are introduced to Luke as a lowly farm boy with dreams of exploring the galaxy. His petulant annoyance at the duties bestowed on him by his carers, Uncle Owen (Phil Brown) and Aunt Beru (Shelagh Fraser), mimics the parental frustrations many teenagers and young adults experience. It does nothing to suggest he doesn’t care for them as family. However, when it comes to grieving, he seems more distraught by the death of a weird old wizard he only just met than the violent and unjust executions of the people who raised him.
The oddness of his particularly glum response to Obi-Wan Kenobi’s (Alec Guinness) demise is only compounded by Leia’s equally bizarre reaction, with the Princess of Alderan nurturing Luke without mourning the destruction of her own planet. In a sense, explorations of grief are one of the few things the prequels do a lot better than the original trilogy, with Anakin’s (Hayden Christensen) explosive rage following his mother’s death, and his eventual guilt for his actions, a far more compelling and realistic response than Luke’s puzzling reaction.
Release Date May 25, 1977
Director George Lucas
Runtime 121 Minutes
4 A Second Death Star
Offending Film: 'Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi' (1983)
Image via Lucasfilm Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope famously ends with an epic space battle climax in which Luke Skywalker leads an assault on the Death Star, firing a missile into a two-metre-wide exhaust vent to bring about its destruction. Given this proven invulnerability, the Galactic Empire decides its best course of action to deliver the knockout blow against the Rebellion is to… build a new Death Star.
Granted, the second model has some added benefits, including dispatching of the pesky vent that brought about its predecessor’s downfall, but the notion that the Empire could build a second planet-destroying machine without running into interference is a bit of a stretch. Even when it is remembered that the Death Star itself is employed as a trap on the Rebel Alliance, the appearance of a second, uncompleted Death Star is difficult to swallow today. At best, it is an extreme depiction of the Emperor’s arrogance and his underestimating of the Rebels.
3 Continuity Issues in the Cantina Fight
Offending Film: 'Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope' (1977)
Image via Lucasfilm The famous Star Wars cantina is iconic for a number of reasons. The music is instantly recognizable, the introduction to Han and Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) is perfect, and the ensemble of bizarre yet breathtaking alien characters is a perfect encapsulation of the saga’s sense of wonder. However, the scene has one glaring flaw (and no, it has nothing to do with the fact that Han shoots first).
While sitting at the bar, Luke is accosted by two patrons who take an immediate disliking to him. When Obi-Wan tries to defuse the situation, a brief skirmish breaks out that sees Kenobi dismember one of the aggressors with his lightsaber. The establishing shot of the cantina shows Ponda Baba (Tommy Ilsey) to be an alien with large flipper-like hands, but following the brawl, the hand on the ground is hairy and humanoid. While it is easy to overlook amid such a chaotic and instantaneous dispute, it does nothing to clarify what was already a confusing and shakily edited sequence. The fact that the severed arm is also holding a gun despite the fact that it was Doctor Evazan (Alfie Curtis) who wielded the weapon is yet another inconsistency in the chaotic cantina scene.
2 The Dialogue
Offending Films: The Whole Trilogy
Image via Lucasfilm Gatekeepers of the original Star Wars trilogy who harbor a particular resentment towards the new-age films often target the successors for their glaringly bad dialogue. But woeful one-liners have been something of a specialty of the saga since its inception. While it is important to note that some of the dialogue is iconic, such as some of Darth Vader’s most menacing quotes or practically everything said by Master Yoda, the original trilogy has some disastrous dialect as well.
From Luke’s “but I was going to Tosche Station to pick up some power converters,” to Han’s “Jabba, you’re a wonderful human being,” the original trilogy has no shortage of examples of George Lucas’ struggles with dialogue. In addition to its cringe-worthy low points, much of the trilogy’s exposition is rather forceful, while the characters’ conversations lack depth and subtext. This aspect may be superfluous to the spellbinding spectacle on display, but the pitfall remains one of the most grating and consistent setbacks of the original trilogy.
1 The Ewoks
Offending Film: 'Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi' (1983)
Image via Lucasfilm There are many who view the original Star Wars trilogy as a faultless achievement in cinema. The greatest counterargument to this impassioned and understandable stance has always been the Ewoks. Appearing as Return of the Jedi shifts its narrative focus to the moon of Endor, the small bear-like creatures may have been intended to thrive as a cute addition to the franchise’s pantheon of creative critters, but they have come to be seen more as irritating and distracting.
Their inclusion is made all the more grating because of how their use of rudimentary weaponry is able to conquer the advanced technology of the Empire, a baffling narrative decision that completely undermines the series’ antagonistic force. The fact that the original idea saw the battle transpiring on Kashyyyk with the wookies instead of the Ewoks only makes their presence all the more bitter. They are by far the weakest element of Return of the Jedi, and the biggest misstep of the entire trilogy at large.
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