The Empire Strikes Back General Discussion

One of my favorite scenes is when the Falcon is being chanced by Tie-fighters and Darth Vaders super star destroyer gets in the way. The detail of that destroyer is amazing. The scale of both ships is spot on. The Falcon looks like a size of a quarter flying along the destroyer. Kit bashing to the max!

 

The Empire Strikes Back is the absolute finest two hours of Star Wars in all of Star Wars. The original, Star Wars/A New Hope/Episode IV, whatever you call it, was the spark. The Empire Strikes back was the explosion. It set everything else into motion while it in itself had such a "bummer" of an ending. Let's leave alone the ultimate moment of this movie, one of the biggest moments in film history, "I am your father." There is so much more that Empire introduced us to that has had long lasting and impactful significance.

Yoda. The Emperor. Lando. Boba Fett and the bounty hunters. AT-ATs. Carbonite. The Force Pull. Probe droids. Force Ghosts. Bacta tanks. Light Side/Dark Side. Ion cannons. Busted hyperdrives. Levitating rocks. Robotic hands.

So much of everything Star Wars came directly from Empire. For my lifetime and my experience, there is nothing even close to The Empire Strikes Back.

 

And yet it wasn't as big a hit as ANH, which was the rock its haters crushed TLJ with.

 

I don't know if anyone here read it, but I read a journal of the making of ESB back in the day - it was both a fun read and informative. What a pity they don't do that nowadays.

 

Absolutely. All we got for the ST were art books and visual dictionaries, and although nice to look at , didn't give any juicy details behind the scenes!

 

Here is a good Empire behind the scenes documentary.

 

Please don't turn this into yet another TLJ thread. This one is about TESB. But you are right --- it wasn't as big a hit as ANH.

FYI, TESB is the 23rd highest grossing film of all time adjusted for inflation. ANH is in the Top Ten.

 

I DO know Empire magazine had the 'I am your father' twist top the list of Biggest Surprise in Movies awhile back. They'd never be able to do that these days thanks to the internet.

 

My favorite scene was when Han was getting ready to be frozen in carbonite and Harrison Ford ad-libbed "I know" in response to Carrie's 'I love you' instead of the script's "I love you too."

 

Ford did a lot of ad libbing; Hamill was once quoted as saying Ford told Lucas what he wrote was impossible to say out loud, or words to that effect.

 

That didn't stop Ford from uttering one of the worst lines I have ever heard in a STAR WARS movie in "A New Hope". Pity.

 

What was that?

 

Oh of course. That line.....

 

Please, someone tell me what it is!

 

Agree with basically everything said above. I must mention John Williams' score. The absolute best score in all of SW. The asteroid film scene, Dagobah/lifting X-wing scene, the closing shot, which still gives me goosebumps. Perfection.

 

Absolute best score ever made, finest vinyl I ever played.

EDIT:

Ford said: "George, you might be able to type this BANTHA POODOO, we just can't say it."