Watch rare ‘Revenge of the Jedi’ trailer

Long before it was Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, the climax of the “Original Trilogy” had a slightly different, darker title.

This trailer, posted to the Academy Awards YouTube channel, is really just a few production stills thrown together, with a nice taser to the upcoming 1983 release.

Why the title change? One story says it had to do with Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn. Others suggest Lucas felt it was too dark, and later changed it to “Return” to soften it up a bit and make it sound more positive. That makes more sense to me, honestly.

Either way, this video is just a nice piece of nostalgia.

Original title to 'Star Wars VI' (or three, depending on your perspective) was 'Revenge of the Jedi'
Original title to ‘Star Wars VI’ (or three, depending on your perspective) was ‘Revenge of the Jedi’