I really don't get the near hatred for Return of the Jedi that some of you have.  Yes, Wookies would have been much cooler than Ewoks.  Get the hell over it.  After all the heaviness that went down in The Empire Strikes Back, there's nothing wrong with a little levity.  Yes, it had Ewoks...it did NOT have Gungans or force-bastard prepubescent kiddies screaming "Yippy".  What it also had was a heroic rescue of a comrade, a daring escape from certain death, the start of Leia's body count, 1983 Carrie Fisher in a gold bikini, a heartfelt farewell to a great mentor, a startling revelation, espionage and infiltration, a full on fleet vs. fleet space battle, the redemption of a lost soul, and victory over evil.

In other words, just because George Lucas wanted to sell sci-fi teddy bears, that is not reason enough to say Return of the Jedi sucks.

 @redvector - I've read several times that the new movies will not be based directly on any of the books, but where did you see that the entire EU is being totally thrown out?  I've not seen that anywhere.  I didn't keep up with the EU, so I don't really care one way or another, just curious.  I would think a smart course of action would be to at least keep some of the EU names and such that fans are already familiar with and incorperate them into the movies.

I've got no hatred for ROTJ or any of the SW films. I do notice that if Jedi is running on cable I will skip as much of the Ewok stuff as possible and just look at the Luke, Vader, Emperor scenes. That is the part of the movie that I'm most interested in.

 For the record, I thought the biggest fault of the prequel trilogy, aside from scripts and direction, was the total absence of the rogue character.  When your good side consists only of Jedi and senators with noble ideas, it gets a tad boring, IMO.  Han and Chewie definitely made things fun and more interesting.  Same reason why Jayne Cobb is my favorite character on Firefly.

@redvector - Really? You mean like Coruscant? Like how they invented Coruscant in the Thrawn Trilogy of books and then used it in the Prequels movies? Like that?  Holocrons were also invented in the EU materials, not any of the maion stream movies.

 Oh snap.

 @Caveman - I do not nor have I ever hated the ROTJ. But to me it is the least of the original three movies. But I do think that the Ewoks were a mistake and lame as hell. I am sorry, but the idea of a stone age race of tiny teddy bear like creature defeating the legions of Storm Troopers is retarded.

Storm Troopers took over the whole galaxy. Is Lucas trying to tell me that fucking Ewoks could beat the soldiers who defeated an entire Galaxy? Wookies could do that. Ewoks? Not even a chance in the brightest heaven. Even with the help of the Rebellion. I am over it, but I can still think it is a stupid ass idea.

 Again, Lucas just wanted to see sci-fi teddy bears...lol.  I understand your outrage over the sheer ridiculousness of it, but then I have to think of it like this:  an indigenous and somewhat intelligent species knows their own environment better than Stormtroopers.  It's a crazy long shot, but Ewoks helping to defeat some Imperial ground forces is no less ludicrous an idea to me than two Hobbits being able to carry the most dangerous object in existence into the most dangerous place in the world to destroy said object right under the "nose" of it's creator.

Did I just blow your mind, or what?  LOL

No, not really. I get the Hobbits as they were running and hiding, not fighting. But like you said, we should just get over it.

I just want the new movies to kick ass. If they do all if forgiven with the Ewoks debacle if they make the new movies full of awesome epicness.

 True enough...but then Sam fought his way into a Mordor stronghold by himself to rescue Mr. Frodo...must have been motivated by that good, sweet Hobbit love that is in no way homoerotic at all...LOL

I'm sure the new movies will be full of awesomeness.  Disney didn't put any cuddly characters into The Avengers to sell plush toys, after all.