When I grew up, certain movies felt not only magical, but almost...predestined. As if they could not have been any different than they were, both in terms of the story itself, as well as the cultural impact that they had and, in many respects, continue to have. Perhaps the best example of this, at least for me, were the Star Wars movies, which I absolutely loved. I loved the movies, loved the few books and comics that I had of them, and loved the toy lines. Hell, I even loved to talk about Star Wars with other kids and think about Star Wars on my own. When my parents drove during nighttime, I would look at the reflector lights on the roadways and highways and imagine that this might be a scene from a Star Wars movie, and particularly Return of the Jedi.
Which is why it is almost shocking, even as an adult, to learn that none of this necessarily had to be so. Most people did not expect Star Wars to have anywhere near the success that it did, much less to be the cultural phenomenon that it actually turned out to be. What I, as a child, assumed almost to be preordained actually seemed unlikely to older people at the time.
Of course, it follows that the stories themselves might have been very different. Can you imagine, for example, Return of the Jedi having one of the major characters killed off? How incredibly different the movie - and the response to it - would have been? Or if the Ewoks had not been so cute, and maybe would have been different, albeit more familiar, creatures altogether?
Interesting to think about.
Below is a relatively short video that discusses just how differently the third and final installment of the original Star Wars trilogy actually might have been, under slightly different circumstances.
Take a look and enjoy.
What Could Have Been: Revenge of the Jedi
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