Seth Zarate is back to help us tackle RETURN OF THE JEDI, the sixth of nine (nice) numbered films in the main STAR WARS canon!

This episode, we’re talkin’ about it all: Fathers, sex, spicy teddy bears, how differently this movie hits as an adult, the virtue of landing a plane as big as STAR WARS without crashing, and how the end of the world’s most-watched saga may be to blame for the whole mess it’s become in the decades since.

Find Seth…

• On Bluesky at snzarate.bsky.social


• On Letterboxd at @snzarate


• On Twitter (barely) at @snzarate


• On Trylove episodes about THE FIFTH ELEMENT (1997), 12 MONKEYS (1995), TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. (1985), A GOOFY MOVIE (1995) Table Read, TIME BANDITS (1981), THE FACULTY (1998), THE SACRIFICE (1986), RUMBLE IN THE BRONX (1995), Horrorthon V: Son of Horrorthon (2021), BATMAN RETURNS (1992), TOKYO GODFATHERS (2003), THE CONVERSATION (1974), IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT (1934), LOOPER (2012), ASTEROID CITY/DIAL OF DESTINY/DEAD RECKONING/BARBIE/OPPENHEIMER (2023), THE CARS THAT ATE PARIS (1974)

References:

• “The ONLY Ewok Jedi!” by RedFiveStarWars


• “‘Cha too ma laya conky, ya neema loka nyan:’ Return of the Jedi Appreciation” by Ben Jarman for Perisphere, the Trylon blog


• “Star Wars Film Love: Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Theater” by Devin Warner for Perisphere, the Trylon blog


• “The Bright Flame of Resistance: Star Wars” by John Costello for Perisphere, the Trylon blog


• Give to the Trylon’s Film Forever Fund so they never have to increase ticket prices!


• Check the calendar, preview upcoming series, and buy tickets


• Contribute to Perisphere, the Trylon blog

#StarWars #DCP

Follow us on Twitter at @trylovepodcast, Bluesky at @trylovepodca.st, and email us at trylovepodcast@gmail.com to get in touch!

Show art by Emily Csuy. Theme: "Raindrops" by Huma-Huma/"No Smoking" PSA by John Waters. Outro music: “Victory Celebration” composed and conducted by John Williams and performed by the London Symphony Orchestra from the RETURN OF THE JEDI soundtrack.

Timestamps

0:00 - Episode 337: RETURN OF THE JEDI (1983)

4:37- Overall evaluations of RETURN OF THE JEDI

17:06 - How Jabba’s Palace sets the stage for the rest of STAR WARS

31:55 - It’s nice to have a movie that feels like a direct continuation

39:48 - Endor and focusing almost exclusively on Luke

50:32 - Luke is an ewok. You are an ewok. We are all ewoks.

1:05:07 - The ending and “What is Best in STAR WARS?”

1:15:09 - The Junk Drawer

1:33:23 - To All the Loves We’ve Tried Before: 1983

1:41:06 - Cody’s Noteys: Puff Puff MoviePass (two things we like and one thing we don’t from 2025 movies)