May 25, 1983: "Return of the Jedi" Premieres

May 25, 1983: Star Wars: Episode VI -- Return of the Jedi premieres. It was originally supposed to be Revenge of the Jedi, but George Lucas found out that Star Trek II was going to be subtitled The Vengeance of Khan. If this was ever true, it was changed to The Wrath of Khan.

A cartoon in the science fiction fan magazine Starlog showed Ricardo Montalban wearing Darth Vader's armor and telling Luke Skywalker, "Don't look so surprised. You didn't really think there could be two evil geniuses in the galaxy, did you?"

For some Star Wars fans, especially those who consider Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back to be the greatest film, of any kind, ever -- you know, the ones who root for Darth Vader, and make you ask if they root for the Witch in The Wizard of Oz, Barzini in The Godfather, the shark in Jaws, and just who they root for in Casablanca and other World War II films -- this is where it all started to go wrong for the franchise:

* The pandering to the fact that the boys who loved the first movie were now teenagers, so Princess Leia had the "slave bikini."

* The too-easy, eventually retconned-away death for Boba Fett, who -- let's put it this way: Epic Rap Battles of History got it right in 2015, when they called him "the most overrated character anybody ever saw."

* Obi-Wan telling Luke that, "Darth Vader killed your father" was the truth "from a certain point of view." One later confirmed by Vader's own word the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV series.

* Finding out that Leia was actually Luke's sister, making their earlier kisses pre-incest.

* The Ewoks.

But it all works out in the end.

Until 2015, when Star Wars: Episode VII -- The Force Awakens premiered, and we found out that, from the Original Trilogy's characters' perspective, it was all for nought, as they had to do it all over again.

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May 25, 1983 was a Wednesday. These Major League Baseball games were played:

* The New York Yankees lost to the California Angels, 7-1 at Anaheim Stadium (now Angel Stadium of Anaheim). Former Yankee Tommy John went the distance for the Angels, while Shane Rawley did not have good stuff. Reggie Jackson and Rod Carew, both available for the Angels, did not play. Ken Griffey Sr. hit a home run for the Yankees, and Dave Winfield went 2-for-4.

* The New York Mets lost to the San Francisco Giants, 7-6 at Shea Stadium. Dave Kingman and George Foster hit home runs for the Mets, but it wasn't enough. Between them, the Mets' 1st 2 pitchers in this game, Neil Allen and Rick Ownby, pitched 6 innings, allowing 6 runs on 8 hits and 5 walks. In 3 weeks, they would be traded to St. Louis for Keith Hernandez.

* The Montreal Expos beat the San Diego Padres, 2-0 at the Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Steve Rogers pitched a 7-hit shutout.

* The Los Angeles Dodgers beat the Philadelphia Phillies, 6-1 at Veterans Stadium in Philadelphia. Mike Schmidt and Pete Rose both went 0-for-4.

* The Minnesota Twins beat the Baltimore Orioles, 7-4 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore. Eddie Murray went 2-for-4, and Cal Ripken went 1-for-4 with a walk.

* The Atlanta Braves beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 6-0 at Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium. Craig McMurtry pitched a 3-hit shutout.

* The Detroit Tigers beat the Toronto Blue Jays, 6-2 at Exhibition Stadium in Toronto.

* The St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds, 7-2 at Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. Johnny Bench went 2-for-3 with a walk. The aforementioned Keith Hernandez went 0-for-4, but drew a walk, and had an RBI on a groundout.

* The Boston Red Sox beat the Chicago White Sox, 2-0 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Carl Yastrzemski, in his final season as a player, did not play in this game.

* The Kansas City Royals beat the Texas Rangers, 5-2 at Royals Stadium (now Kauffman Stadium) in Kansas City. George Brett hit a home run.

* The Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 1-0 at the Astrodome in Houston. It took 4 pitchers -- Mike Madden for 6 innings, Frank LaCorte for 2, Frank DiPino for 1/3rd, and Bill Dawley for 2/3rds -- to pitch a 3-hit shutout for the Astros.

* The Milwaukee Brewers beat the Oakland Athletics, 7-6 at the Oakland Coliseum. Robin Yount went 1-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Paul Molitor was injured, and did not play.  Rickey Henderson also did not play.

* And the Seattle Mariners beat the Cleveland Indians, 2-1 at the Kingdome in Seattle.

The NFL was out of season. The USFL was in its 1st season, but was in midweek. The NBA Finals were between Games 1 and 2, and the Philadelphia Flyers went on to sweep the Los Angeles Lakers. The Stanley Cup had been awarded 9 days earlier, when the New York Islanders swept the Edmonton Oilers.

In soccer, the European Cup Final -- the tournament now known as the UEFA Champions League -- was held at the Olympic Stadium in Athens, Greece. Juventus of Turin, Italy went into the Final with 6 members of the Italy team that won the previous year's World Cup, including hero scorer Paolo Rossi, goalie Dino Zoff, and sweeper Gaetano Scirea (who was having his 30th birthday).

But an early wonder strike from Felix Magath holds up, and outgoing German champions Hamburger SV (Sport-Verein, "sports club") win, 1-0, and take the trophy known as Ol' Big Ears.