Star Wars Retrospective: Episode 5

Pounding headache all day isn't making this easy, but I said I'd do this, and no one can say that I don't follow through on my promises.

Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back.

As I said, I only own the special edition, so I've only go the version where shit has been changed.  But, even tough I haven't seen the original version of Empire in 12 years, I remember enough of what wasn't there to know what was changed.  That said, on with the review.

This movie has a LOT of important moments.  We see Vader's meditation chamber, the budding romance between Han and Leia, Luke's Jedi training, the introduction of Yoda, and the introduction of the Emperor. 

First off, Vader's meditation chamber.  The only place where Vader can take the helmet off.  We actually see his bald, scarred head in that meditation chamber; the second inkling that something's seriously wrong with Vader, the breathing being the first.  Of course, having seen Episode 3, I know exactly what is wrong with Vader, but when I saw it in the late 80s and in the 1997 special edition, I had no idea why what was wrong with him.

Second, the Han and Leia romance.  The dialogue is so much better than than the Anakin/Padme romance.  Mostly because the dialogue isn't written by George Lucas.  It's subtle, and that's the only way a romance feels natural. 

Third, Yoda.  When he first pops up, we get to see a different side to him; a very silly little man.  He's playful.  He's funny when he first shows up.  Granted, he's doing that to test Luke's patience, But it's just awesome to see this side of Yoda.

Forth, Luke's Jedi training.  This is the first time we see Yoda as a Jedi Master.  Wise, powerful, and patient.  Which contrasts Luke during this time; dumb, weak, and impatient.  Luke has so many questions about the Force and about Jedi training, but the answers are things that Luke has to learn for himself.  And the two major moments in Luke's training; his failure in the cave, and his failure to lift his X-Wing.  He doesn't completely learn his lesson from the cave until after he faces Vader, but when he sees Yoda lift his X-Wing immediately after his failure, he learns something extremely important; where the Force is concerned, "Size matters not."  Seeing this is a turning point in Luke's training; seeing Yoda, a being half his size, lift something as big and heavy as an X-Wing makes Luke truly understands what a Jedi is capable of.  But, that also made him more susceptible to the Dark Side.  After all, he doesn't learn the lesson of the cave until after his duel with Vader.

Speaking of the duel with Vader, it was as good as the battle between Anakin and Obi-Wan on Mustafar.  We started to see what a Lightsaber duel should look like in that battle.  Vader's full control of the Force and his lightsaber made him a powerful foe to Luke, and we can see that, during the entire fight, he's just toying with Luke.  We don't really see what Vader is capable of until near the end of the duel, when he starts throwing stuff at Luke and then cutting off Luke's hand.  Luke, for the most part, holds his own, pushing himself to his limits and testing his new powers.  And it's amazing with how well Luke does in the duel; a man with no sword training holds his own pretty well, despite the fact that we know that Vader is just toying with Luke.

And the revelation; "No.  I am your father."  That was shocking to the audience in 1980.  The villain of the last movie just told the hero that he is the hero's father; that was unbelievable.  It was shocking, and no one knew how to react to it.  James Earl Jones in the bonus material DVD said it best; "when I first saw that line, I thought, 'he's lying'."  (And that's why I advocate showing these three to the next generation first.  Because seeing Episode 3 ruins the impact of this scene.  Imagine a child, who didn't grow up with Star Wars the way we did, seeing this scene and blurting out.  "Duh!"  Horrifying, isn't it?)

Finally, The Emperor.  In 1980 and the original release of this movie on VHS, Palpatine's first appearance portrayed by was a woman with the composite image of a chimpanzee for the eyes, and voiced by Clive Revell.  Hell, even in the 1997 special edition it was like that.  But, for the 2004 DVD release, we get Ian McDiarmid.  And, in all honesty, this was an AWESOME change.  As I've said 3 times so far, McDiarmid is awesome as Palpatine.  He elevates an already awesome movie.  And let's be honest, that old woman-chimp image was stupid.

The only other major change made, other than BS additions to add CGI to "add more life" to the movie, was the change to Boba Fett's voice.   Boba Fett was originally voiced by Jason Wingreen the 1980 film, and the subsequent video releases had his voice in then.  But, for the 2004 DVD release, his voice was changed to Temura Morrison, the man who did Boba's father, Jango.  The idea was that, since Boba was a direct clone, his voice would be the same as Jango's.  And you know what?  That doesn't bother me.  Like the change to McDiarmid for the Palpatine hologram, it makes sense. It fits, and it's cosmetic.  And those minor changes don't hurt the movie experience.

I like the Empire Strikes Back.  In fact, it's my favorite one.  So much character growth goes on, so many important plot points are introduced in this movie.

Next up, the finality of the Star Wars saga, Return of the Jedi.  And then, my thoughts on all six.

Fixed some spelling. I'm glad I'm just copying and pasting something I did before, because I wouldn't have been able to keep my promise otherwise.  I've done nothing to day other than taking painkillers for my headache and putting an icepack on my eyes and forehead to stop the throbbing.  It's only now that the pain is down to a manageable point that I can do this.