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The Art of Star Wars
The Art of Star Wars, Return of the Jedi
The ART OF STAR RETURN OF THE JEDI is a lavish, full-color volume that commemorates the creative genius and technical wizardry behind RETURN OF THE JEDI, the dazzling space epic. Illustrating the original screenplay are hundreds of sketches, storyboards, matte paintings, blueprints, production paintings, and costume designs -- the work of the conceptual artists and designers whose skill and imagination gave rise to the wonders seen on the screen by the whole world.
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First published January 1, 1983
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
February 8, 2018
The Art of Return of the Jedi was originally published in 1983 and includes the complete script of the film by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas. The film runs at 2 hours and 13 minutes.
In regards to this script format, CAPITAL LETTERS are designated for direction, scene locations, and characters. Speaking characters are also in bold.
Italics are used to set the scene, describe actions, dialogue’s (tone) and (who is being addressed), and language. Some of the demoed STORYBOARDS have descriptions and notes. The development of artwork is lovely throughout the entire reading experience.
Many spaceships are massive, Artoo zips frequently, Chewie barks, and Ewoks are fuzzy. One could argue this film is “awesome”!
Presented chronologically are unique words and phrases used throughout the entirety of the script (apologies if some are repeats):
Infinity, monstrous, massive, zipping, hustles, delineating, technocrat, arrogantly, ashen, aghast, meanders, timidly, stubby, lumbering, drunken, nauseating, repulsive, dais, dank, baby work droid, tortured, raucious, boisterous, debauchers, clattered, disheveled, malevolently, gunfighter cool, pathetic howl, frozen space pirate, decarbonization, staggering newborn, obscene, cacophony, inexorably, blue streak, skimpy, manacle, bewildered, courtiers, futilely, slavering, avalanche, consternation, menacingly, cackles, scantily clad, singsong, mucous-lined, needle-sharp, motley, unobstrusively, conspiracy, jaunty, bloodthirsty, samurai speed, hapless, bewildered, fusillade, decimating, lethal appendage, mucous mouth, spectacle, bulbous, flaccid, scum-coated, bondage, precariously, fingerhold, slippage, tumult, mechanism, butts, conflagration
Desolate, green neighbor, mammoth, gnarled, dignitaries
Environs, gloom, frail, tickled, creases, beckons, depressed, dejectedly, shimmering, derisive, mesmerized, entranced
Stern, salmon-colored, insignia, murmur, mumble, warmly, longingly
Dimly, cautiously, roar, huge, tensely, looms, vibration, contingent, rousing, glancing, slalom, death-dealing, vanes, undergrowth, domed head, grim, stubby ball of fuzz, disheveled, charred, chattering a blue streak, foliage, chubby, dense, scoots, jumble, bottommost, brandishing, confiscate, placatingly, litter, shaky, abyss, barbecue pit, rapt, assemblage, frantic, Spartan, visage, little teddy bears, insistence, trembling, stifle, exasperated
Tranquil, black-gloved, humming, brilliant blade, extinguishes
Chatters, scampers
Gaze, defiantly, perceive, gloved hand, sword
Full steam, poised, roughly, awesome, massing, worriedly, screaming, torment, agony
Duck, band, fray, erupt, rages, stubby, astrodroid, panicked, furries scurry, primitive
Ferocious, belly guns, aerial, dogfight, emanates, appendages, rampaging, decimated, triumphantly, interim, laser sword, armadas, semi-darkness, anguish, clatters, agitation, glee, superstructure, half successful, writhes, chaos, enormous, bombard, pyre
Other examples of unique descriptive language and writing include:
“like a sledgehammer on an egg” (39)
“like a pet cat” (42)
“like a sultan” (45)
“He wears a hooded cloak similar to the one Ben wear, except that it is black.” (52)
“in her fifties” (60)
“200 miles an hour” (85)
“SPROOING!” (85)
“Han and Luke exchange, ‘What next?’ looks.” (87)
“but now something passes like a dark cloud through his consciousness” (94)
“We are treated to an awesome sight.” (102)
“It’s scary, but he loves it.” (104)
“The Death Star and its Sanctuary Moon hang distant in space as the Rebel fleet comes out of hyperspace with an awesome roar.” (111)
“awesome two-legged walkers” (121)
“Luke turns to fight his father” (129)
“LOUD WOOSH” (130)
“HAN: I love you.
Another shared look between them, as she smiles at Han.
LEIA: I know.” (130)
“The two armadas, like their sea-bound ancestors.” (132)
“Luke ignites his lightsaber and screams in anger, rushing at his father with a frenzy we have not seen before.” (137)
In regards to this script format, CAPITAL LETTERS are designated for direction, scene locations, and characters. Speaking characters are also in bold.
Italics are used to set the scene, describe actions, dialogue’s (tone) and (who is being addressed), and language. Some of the demoed STORYBOARDS have descriptions and notes. The development of artwork is lovely throughout the entire reading experience.
Many spaceships are massive, Artoo zips frequently, Chewie barks, and Ewoks are fuzzy. One could argue this film is “awesome”!
Presented chronologically are unique words and phrases used throughout the entirety of the script (apologies if some are repeats):
Infinity, monstrous, massive, zipping, hustles, delineating, technocrat, arrogantly, ashen, aghast, meanders, timidly, stubby, lumbering, drunken, nauseating, repulsive, dais, dank, baby work droid, tortured, raucious, boisterous, debauchers, clattered, disheveled, malevolently, gunfighter cool, pathetic howl, frozen space pirate, decarbonization, staggering newborn, obscene, cacophony, inexorably, blue streak, skimpy, manacle, bewildered, courtiers, futilely, slavering, avalanche, consternation, menacingly, cackles, scantily clad, singsong, mucous-lined, needle-sharp, motley, unobstrusively, conspiracy, jaunty, bloodthirsty, samurai speed, hapless, bewildered, fusillade, decimating, lethal appendage, mucous mouth, spectacle, bulbous, flaccid, scum-coated, bondage, precariously, fingerhold, slippage, tumult, mechanism, butts, conflagration
Desolate, green neighbor, mammoth, gnarled, dignitaries
Environs, gloom, frail, tickled, creases, beckons, depressed, dejectedly, shimmering, derisive, mesmerized, entranced
Stern, salmon-colored, insignia, murmur, mumble, warmly, longingly
Dimly, cautiously, roar, huge, tensely, looms, vibration, contingent, rousing, glancing, slalom, death-dealing, vanes, undergrowth, domed head, grim, stubby ball of fuzz, disheveled, charred, chattering a blue streak, foliage, chubby, dense, scoots, jumble, bottommost, brandishing, confiscate, placatingly, litter, shaky, abyss, barbecue pit, rapt, assemblage, frantic, Spartan, visage, little teddy bears, insistence, trembling, stifle, exasperated
Tranquil, black-gloved, humming, brilliant blade, extinguishes
Chatters, scampers
Gaze, defiantly, perceive, gloved hand, sword
Full steam, poised, roughly, awesome, massing, worriedly, screaming, torment, agony
Duck, band, fray, erupt, rages, stubby, astrodroid, panicked, furries scurry, primitive
Ferocious, belly guns, aerial, dogfight, emanates, appendages, rampaging, decimated, triumphantly, interim, laser sword, armadas, semi-darkness, anguish, clatters, agitation, glee, superstructure, half successful, writhes, chaos, enormous, bombard, pyre
Other examples of unique descriptive language and writing include:
“like a sledgehammer on an egg” (39)
“like a pet cat” (42)
“like a sultan” (45)
“He wears a hooded cloak similar to the one Ben wear, except that it is black.” (52)
“in her fifties” (60)
“200 miles an hour” (85)
“SPROOING!” (85)
“Han and Luke exchange, ‘What next?’ looks.” (87)
“but now something passes like a dark cloud through his consciousness” (94)
“We are treated to an awesome sight.” (102)
“It’s scary, but he loves it.” (104)
“The Death Star and its Sanctuary Moon hang distant in space as the Rebel fleet comes out of hyperspace with an awesome roar.” (111)
“awesome two-legged walkers” (121)
“Luke turns to fight his father” (129)
“LOUD WOOSH” (130)
“HAN: I love you.
Another shared look between them, as she smiles at Han.
LEIA: I know.” (130)
“The two armadas, like their sea-bound ancestors.” (132)
“Luke ignites his lightsaber and screams in anger, rushing at his father with a frenzy we have not seen before.” (137)
March 13, 2025
So this is an art book, but also! It contains the script of the movie. Which is certainly…a Choice, I guess. That means that there aren’t any words from the artists about why they made certain design choices, though at least the art is all there and credited to the artists.
It’s kind of cool to see the art of the movie side-by-side with the script of scenes from the movie. They don’t always exactly match up page-by-page, but it’s generally around the right parts of the movie. It makes it feel like you’re looking at a version of the movie in the conceptual phase. Because the script doesn’t capture the look of everything–they had to figure that out!
I think a lot of people think of the Prequel Trilogy as where things got really crazy. I guess so, but there were a ton of weird creature and alien designs in the Original Trilogy, too! In particular, it’s clear that they tried out a lot of different ideas for Ewoks and the characters in Jabba’s palace before they settled on the final products.
A ton of McQuarrie art here! Which is nice because he was awesome. There are other great artists who worked on this, too.
It’s a different take on the movie art book; I don’t know that it worked as well for me, though that might be because I’ve seen this movie enough times that the script doesn’t hold too much new for me. It’s still kind of cool though, so it’s worth giving a try.
It’s kind of cool to see the art of the movie side-by-side with the script of scenes from the movie. They don’t always exactly match up page-by-page, but it’s generally around the right parts of the movie. It makes it feel like you’re looking at a version of the movie in the conceptual phase. Because the script doesn’t capture the look of everything–they had to figure that out!
I think a lot of people think of the Prequel Trilogy as where things got really crazy. I guess so, but there were a ton of weird creature and alien designs in the Original Trilogy, too! In particular, it’s clear that they tried out a lot of different ideas for Ewoks and the characters in Jabba’s palace before they settled on the final products.
A ton of McQuarrie art here! Which is nice because he was awesome. There are other great artists who worked on this, too.
It’s a different take on the movie art book; I don’t know that it worked as well for me, though that might be because I’ve seen this movie enough times that the script doesn’t hold too much new for me. It’s still kind of cool though, so it’s worth giving a try.
May 14, 2022
Really good book, comes with the screenplay so you get lots of photos and stills along with dialogue and written action from the pages. Again, similar to the previous books, just cool historical facts on how these movies got made and the art is so well-done. The artists who drew these air crafts and characters were so talented, no wonder the movies wound up so well-done.
March 24, 2019
Reminiscent of the Art of Star Wars: Episode IV in layout and the inclusion of the screenplay, The Art of Return of the Jedi is a collection of sketches, production paintings, and photographs of the sets, ships, vehicles, costumes, and myriad of creatures from the film.
January 11, 2019
Mostly skimmed through this tbh (low key in a slump so actually trying to read the script put me off) but it was nostalgia in it's finest form.
December 21, 2025
Star Wars is so cool
March 18, 2017
I recently read
The Art of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
, and this subsequent book in the series deserves a similar review to my review of that volume. The art is, again, spectacular - perhaps even more so as the new locations and aliens of Return of the Jedi are in many ways more spectacular than the harsh imperial settings of The Empire Strikes Back. But then again, is anything more wonderful than Cloud City? As with the previous volume, some of the art is not well presented, whether too small or crossing the page divide, and it could have been much, much longer and held my interest.
The main flaw of the volume, however, lies in the decision to combine the "Art of" book with the script of the film. Now, I love Return of the Jedi and can't deny that I felt a rush of excitement as I read the script of the Battle of Endor, but there was so much of interest in The Art of The Empire Strikes Back that I wished I could have learned in this book. How was Jabba the Hutt animated? Were the A-Wings and B-Wings designed before they knew which letters of the alphabet they would be named after? In addition to this lack of information, there's also limited labelling of the sketches, so that I can't tell, for example, if some of the sketches are the Emperor or the Imperial Guard.
As with Empire, I borrowed this book from the library. I think I would like to own the entire collection of The Art of Star Wars, Episodes I-VII and onwards, regardless of the flaws in book design or individual films. If there's one thing right about every Star Wars film, it's the visual design, and that is well reflected in their art.
The main flaw of the volume, however, lies in the decision to combine the "Art of" book with the script of the film. Now, I love Return of the Jedi and can't deny that I felt a rush of excitement as I read the script of the Battle of Endor, but there was so much of interest in The Art of The Empire Strikes Back that I wished I could have learned in this book. How was Jabba the Hutt animated? Were the A-Wings and B-Wings designed before they knew which letters of the alphabet they would be named after? In addition to this lack of information, there's also limited labelling of the sketches, so that I can't tell, for example, if some of the sketches are the Emperor or the Imperial Guard.
As with Empire, I borrowed this book from the library. I think I would like to own the entire collection of The Art of Star Wars, Episodes I-VII and onwards, regardless of the flaws in book design or individual films. If there's one thing right about every Star Wars film, it's the visual design, and that is well reflected in their art.
February 20, 2017
The full screenplay for the third film, accompanied by stills, production designs and paintings. Reading this directly after the Empire Strikes Back one (last book read in 2012) was a mistake - where that volume concentrated on the images, showing designs building up to finished models/sets/etc with explanatory text, this has the screenplay (not the strongest of the original trilogy, in my opinion) and the artwork is cut back accordingly. Worse, we end up with lots of costume designs (each entry explaining who drew it and who designed the clothes and it’s always the same names) and thumbnail sketches (a lot of which appear to be used as filler) but very little in the way of model or special effects or set photographs. The icing on that particular cake is that the Ewoks alone take up a handful of pages that I ended up just flicking through. The Star Wars saga - and the information contained in the Lucasfilm archives - is a goldmine (as is evidenced with the Empire volume) and this book, unfortunately, is saddled with the suggestion that it’s a real, wasted opportunity. Having said that, it’s well put together and the images are beautifully reproduced so it’s a pleasant nostalgic read but it really could have been so much more!
December 10, 2023
One drawback of the Star Wars franchise being so oversaturated is that it’s quite difficult to be surprised by concept art and other forms of extraneous content. I didn’t completely realize that until I dove into this volume, a thin and publicity-hungry coffee table book that dates back to Jedi’s original 1983 theatrical release. Less than half of its 151 pages are dedicated to concept art, and of those I would consider 95% of the really interesting pieces to be widespread. The remaining space is dedicated to dull costume designs, rushed storyboards and a “complete script of the film.” Taken at face value, that last item might seem to be worth the price of admission, but I don’t believe this is the actual screenplay or working script. Literally nothing is different from the finished film; no missing scenes or altered dialogue and very limited scene descriptions. It’s like someone sat in the front row for an early screening, hurriedly took note of everything they saw and heard, then passed it along up the marketing chain.
This might have been an exciting oddity back in the early ‘80s, but in the internet age it exists as little more than a curious collectible. Something to hide in a polyethylene bag and stow until you die.
This might have been an exciting oddity back in the early ‘80s, but in the internet age it exists as little more than a curious collectible. Something to hide in a polyethylene bag and stow until you die.
January 31, 2012
And finally the end of the saga or so we thought - this was like the other two art of star wars books originally published shortly after the films release and was seen as many as the end of the saga even though at the time it was stated these where the middle three of a 9 film series. Well we know now what that became - but back then to a small boy allowed to peer over my brothers shoulder this (and the other two books) fired my imagination possibly more than the original film - now years later reprinted by titan and containing additional work from the special edition - i cannot be still feel the saw awe at the book i did then, only now i can appreciate the sheer artistic ability of the designers all the more.
May 17, 2012
As I finished reading the last of this series (or at least of the ones I own) I couldn't help but feel there is lost potential here. While the art is as beautiful and as interesting as ever. Return of the Jedi returned (sorry for the repetition) to A New Hope's format of just movie script and no behind the scenes information. This made it a quicker and less interesting read. Of the three movies, Return of the Jedi has a lot of interesting special effects and it would have been so great to learn more about it. Alas, while I recommend this book highly, it does not improve on the Empire Strikes Back which is by far the best of the bunch. These three books are all out of print now, but they are most definitely worth hunting down. I'm proud to have them on my bookshelf.
January 11, 2016
I have a battered old copy of this book on my shelf and it never gets old. It shows a great deal of the concept art for Return of the Jedi, alongside the film's script. Featuring preliminary and unfamiliar designs of familiar characters, environment concepts, and much more, it's a wonderful addition to the library of any Star Wars fan.
May 15, 2008
At the time, we thought this was it for the "canon" Star Wars universe. I was a tad disappointed, but I think only because it was an "ending".
June 9, 2016
Though Empire was the best film, its the concept art for Jedi that really makes this the best of the late 90s art books.
January 8, 2023
formative childhood classic lol
April 14, 2009
this was amzing
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