So, before a single ship of the Rebel fleet emerges over the forest moon of Endor, we clearly know the stakes. Conversely, we know that the Emperor is using this battle as a trap to destroy the Alliance once and for all. Those facts make it clear to the audience why the Alliance would risk gathering their forces into a single armada for a desperate attack. Not only is the otherwise-indestructible second Death Star not yet operational, but the Emperor is onboard. Mon Mothma and Admiral Ackbar lay out the Rebels’ plan and why it is important.

In Return of the Jedi, we know from the moment we join our heroes on Home One what the goal is and what is at stake.

The narrative structure/evolution of the battle.

The main characters who will tell the story.

When looking at the elements that make the Battle of Endor so iconic, let’s consider the following aspects: The final battle of the original trilogy, that saw the ragtag Rebel Alliance commit the entirety of its navy to battle against the second Death Star and the might of the Imperial starfleet.

Along the way, we’ll see what works, what doesn’t, and what are the elements of the “secret sauce” that makes a damned good space battle! Second, I will compare these traits to what we see in the two major fleet battles of the modern Star Wars era, the Battle of Scarif in Rogue One and the Battle of Exegol in The Rise of Skywalker. To do so, I will first showcase the decisions and story beats that comprise the space battle over Endor. This article will focus primarily on the narrative structure of a good space battle and how, when used properly, they can be an integral and memorable part of a film. Regardless of these battles’ narrative elements, ILM’s work is perfect and without peer.

Those wizards created fantastic physical and digital models for these space battles and the techniques to film or compose a shot.

Our gold standard.īefore I dive in, I’d be remiss if I didn’t give a quick shout out to the brilliant minds at Industrial Light & Magic, both past and present. It is the fleet battle against which all fleet battles in sci-fi are measured against. That film, released 37 years ago (nearly one month after the birth of a future online admiral with a penchant for fish people), undoubtedly laid out the structure for how good space battles are designed, shot, and utilized narratively. I don’t use the word perfect a lot, but I do for the space battle over Endor in Return of the Jedi.

Clone wars space battle