One of the big things that I always found strange about the Star Wars films is that they were, for the most part, pretty tame when it comes to the death of characters. Sure, there’s an arm lopped off, a couple of hands chopped off, and a few other instances where we see the devastating capabilities of that universe’s weaponry. However, the majority of deaths (almost all Stormtroopers) were basically an explosion of sparks and, well…that’s about it.
Along comes The Empire Falls, a short film that comes at the battle on the Forest Moon of Endor, as featured in Return of the Jedi, from the perspective of the Empire, specifically one troop. While the original film was rather cute and cuddly, this one throws all that to the wind and shows just how violent those battles really are. Let’s just say that you’re probably not going to look at Ewoks in the same way ever again.
On a side note, was there ever a good explanation in the original trilogy as to why the Empire was “the bad guy”? I mean, sure they blew up Alderaan but wasn’t that out of their own self defense? Help me out here!