William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return, Ian Doescher

Finally got to finish out the trilogy tonight, sad that it's over, but it was a fun ride while it lasted.

William Shakespeare's The Jedi Doth Return
Ian Doescher
ISBN: 9781594747137
Read September 23, 2014.
William Shakespeare's Star Wars: Verily, A New Hope
William Shakespeare's The Empire Striketh Back


Our last installment has no more singing Ugnaughts, but we do get Ewoks speaking pidgin English, which is an interesting choice.  The author comments in the afterword that keeping track of everyone's speech patterns after three whole books/films-worth of characters was a little daunting, but I think it all went smoothly.  I don't know that I would have given the Ewoks that sort of dialect, but I did like a thoughtful line from Leia on Endor:
"It is not we who welcome them, I err.
For 'tis their moon, their home, their dwelling place.
'Tis surely they who kindly welcome us,
'Tis truly they to whom our thanks are due..."

There are other truly lovely moments scattered throughout - Luke's soliloquy bracing himself before confronting Jabba, the Emperor's delightful evil monologue embracing his destiny as master of pain and suffering and death, Vader's slow growing realization that his evil is no match for his feelings as a father.

Like the author, I like Jedi way more than I should.  I know it's cheesy, I know the Ewoks are a bit of a joke, but I can't help it.  It's always been my favorite, with the stark themes of love and loss and the hard-won lessons of maturity, of being better than your parents while still loving them.

I think I was most happy reading this when the language from the film didn't even need much changing to fit this Shakespearean conceit.  Reading this homage is light and fun and easy, but then a powerful moment from the movie transfers over almost unchanged, like when Luke confronts Vader in that industrial grim corridor on Endor.  "'Tis but the name of thy true self, which thou hast but forgotten.  Furthermore, I know that there is good within thee yet, for thy great Emperor cannot have driven it from thee entirely."  That is sooo close to Luke's impassioned speech that, minus the thees and thous, it is essentially what was spoken in the film.  That language and that scene was powerful then, and it still is now, even with a bit of frippery and fun draped over it.  That's why I love Star Wars.