@@wonderfulwookiee6443 Wow, way to spoil it for her. Just because she already knew the big one, you don't have to spoil all the little cool lines. What Bart was doing was teasing it with subtlety. You said it outright. Not cool.
My favorite bit of trivia about this film is how far they went to keep Vader being Luke's father a secret. The script actually had the line "Obi-wan killed your father", and only about a dozen people knew the truth during the film's production. Mark Hamill learned about the fake line about 15 minutes before they filmed his reaction.
I always appreciated how the "I am your father" line still has impact, even for people who already knew the spoiler beforehand. Context is a helluva drug.
@@ShanelleRiccio It's DEEPLY upsetting for Luke... and we see it. It has impact even when you've seen it 100 times. I haven't the foggiest idea how many times I've seen Star Wars. Probably way over 30 times. Lots of people have watched more times than that.
Yes. It’s not just a paternity reveal like on Maury; it’s the fact that Luke’s two major narrative arcs hit rock bottom at the same time: he lost the fight intended to avenge his father’s death, and he has to abandon his goal to be like his father.
It's so easy to feel cynical about Star Wars today. But, my god, does revisiting this movie (and watching someone experience it for the first time like this) remind me why I love this story so much.
I totally agree. Star Wars (the IP) is dead to me. I don't give a flying F*CK about what happens to Star Wars now but just watching this reaction to the original gave me some of the same shivers of joy I had when I saw this opening week when I was 11 years old. Disney Star Wars can burn in hell as far as I'm concerned, it's $4.05 Billion of garbage.
@@Mr.Batsu12 You've obviously never seen The Mandolarian (sp) series. It's every bit as good as the original three. Watch it, you'll be pleasantly surprised.
@@user-sw4qd2up2s Actually, I've seen season 1. I didn't like it. Episode 1 felt like it had promise but the writing fell off a cliff right away. If you like it that's good for you.
I went to the original run in theaters and when Vader revealed that he was Luke's father tha gasps from the audience was so loud you barely heard the next line.
TommyJ. I was 12 that summer. For the next three years, I don’t think a week went by where some kid hadn’t read something in a magazine or heard something from ‘his brother’ that it was either true of false. I remember it being a major topic of conversation that first summer & especially when school started back up.
Imagine if when Luke ignited the lightsaber when he faced off with Vader, that Vader would've said, "Where did you get that? That belonged to me when I was a Jedi".
Everyone always calls Empire the "best" film of the series. I never liked it for exactly that reason. I was all, "THAT'S how it ends? That's not an ending!!"
That's actually part of the reason I DID like it. It's an ongoing war so why should it be wrapped up nicely by the end of this movie? I've seen many people watching Star Wars for the first time think that the ENTIRE Empire was destroyed after the first Death Star was blown up. Probably partly because they had a nice little celebration at the end and gave out medals. For all they knew a fleet of Star Destroyers were about to hit Yavin IV and they're all standing around clapping instead of evacuating. They corrected that sort of attitude on Hoth in this movie. Not only was this ending a downer but it doesn't even pretend like there isn't going to be another one coming. It got me really excited for the next one. I'm just young enough that I missed seeing most of these in the theater (I saw ROTJ but I was apparently only 11 months old). I can't imagine the wait between those two movies. Even the prequels and sequels didn't seem to have that kind of cliffhanger. I did see the special editions in the theater though so I was happy about that.
@@MysterClark at the very least it would have been nice if they were headed somewhere and said so. Not just sating out of the hospital ship heading nowhere in particular.
@@brom00 Well, Lando said they were going after Han and "that bounty hunter" so we knew generally what they were doing. Earlier in the film it said that Boba would be taking Han to Jabba the Hutt. With the original Jabba scene left on the cutting room floor we didn't know it'd be Tatooine but I think they gave a fairly good clue on what they were doing. The rebels probably didn't know where they were going after this. Even in ROTJ they don't seem to have another secret base. They just stay in their ships. So I guess they never went much of anywhere. Just wandered.
One of my favorite single frame cartoons was one of a small fish, followed by a larger fish with an open mouth full of teeth, followed by an even larger one, and another. The last large fish is followed by a school of the same type of fish all with their mouths open but small and matching the first fish.
I was 5 years old and my grandfather took me to see this movie in the theater when it came out. When Vader makes the big reveal, grown adults were screaming at the screen “HE’S LYING!!”
It was the first Schism in the franchise... A whole group of fans revolted and left the fandom over that story twist. Of course for most.... it was just epic and mind blowing. The next big schism would come with Ewoks... Then Special Edition haters...then Jar Jar and Midichlorian haters and it goes on and on. It's a such a credit to the first couple movies and the strength of the character drawing and story that people got SO UPSET when the tone of the franchise shifted here or there.
So as someone who saw this in the theaters in 1980 when I was 9, and also the first one when it came out, I was so blown away with it that I don't think I can accurately describe how it changed my childhood. For kids at that time, this was everything for us, and it was also quite torturous to have to wait two years for the next movie to come out. My mom took me to see those movies dozens of times each, and it wasn't until decades later that she admitted to me that she never even liked them, but she did it because I did. Moms rule!
Leia jabs at Han constantly. It's not just lengthy tirades such as “stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder”. She digs where it hurts. She reminds him that he's not at her status level, calling him "scoundrel", or "flyboy", and generally telling him he's lower than her, or somehow not a good person. That's why Han acknowledges her status in a snarky way, calling her "your worshipfulness", and "highness". He knows she loves him, but that she won't allow herself to look at someone with such low status as a potential mate. Because of this, when she FINALLY admits her feelings... all he has to say is "I know". That says it all. That tells her that he's known it all along and she KNOWS he felt the same way.
One historian has quoted Leigh Bracket went for a Tracy/Hepburn dynamic between Han & Lea. I first saw this in a theater during the first run. Watching the AT-ATs come at you was terrifying. In fact all of the Hoth scenes were stunning in theater. Small quibble: real asteroid fields are nothing like you see in movies. The density is quite relative. 99% of the field is empty space.
@@Caseytify - Yup... and most of the asteroids would all be moving in the same direction. If they were all flying around in random directions, the asteroid field would disperse within a matter of days.
The exchange, "I love you" ... "I know" knowingly or unknowingly comes from "Casablanca". Victor Lazlo (Paul Henreid) tells Ilsa Lund (Ingrid Bergman), "I love you" and she responds, "I know", so the genders were reversed in "Star Wars".
Fun fact: a reason why they chose to have the first major battle in this one on an ice planet is because some critics said “the Death Star battle from Star Wars was on a black background so you could hide any errors” So they had an all white background and the special effects team really stepped up their game.
Your claim doesn't make sense. They simply can't do such a space battles in a row because it causes fatigue on the audience. Same reason Return Of The Jedi then turn the battle scene to a forest.
Those were some dumb critics if that's true. What background color did they expect in a movie called "Star Wars?" "If you were real special effects pros you would have made space magenta!"
You seemed to be looking for a meaning in the "Luke's face in Vader's helmet" scene, so here it is. It's never spelled out in any of the movies, but it actually indicates the path to the Dark Side and shows what Luke could become if he were to follow that path. There's probably a bunch of other potential interpretations as well but that's the generally accepted "official" meaning.
To build on what you said, I’d point out to that Luke is the first to ignite his lightsaber and take a swing at Vader, just MINUTES after Yoda tells him “a Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense, never for attack.” (Now, there’s a WHOLE loooooong discussion that could be had over the fact Obi Wan Kenobi was often the first to ignite his throughout the prequels, and what that says about him….)
Also, before entering the tree Yoda tells Luke not to bring his weapons. When Luke asks what’s in there Yoda says “only what you bring with you”. Luke brings his weapons. When you go into the tree with aggression you find aggression.
He didn't like the roles he was getting so he became a carpenter to support his then wife and 2 kids. He got introduced to Lucas, played a part in a couple of his films, was hired to rebuild part of his office and then got this role. He was originally hired to read lines to actors auditioning but his readings won over Lucas and got cast as Han.
According to my family, though I dont remember it, in 1980, when I was 3 years old, my parents went out to eat leaving my 11 year old brother as babysitter (the 80's, am I right?) When he wanted to se this movie. So he risked getting grounded, loaded me into a stroller and walked to the theater. I dont know if its true, but if it is, this was the first movie I ever saw in a theater.
The 80’s were the best. I started babysitting at the age of 10, usually something simple at that age, holding a neighbor’s baby while she went to the store, but was watching a couple kids for a few hours at night by the age of 12 and all day by the age of 13. I wouldn’t dream of hiring a kid that young to watch my kids these days! 😂😂 I think we were more mature and self-sufficient then. Too much technology and ease of life these days produce soft kids incapable of basic stuff.
It's kind of hard to wrap my mind on the fact that there was a time when these original 3 Star Wars movies were brand new and had just come out and were in theaters. I can only image someone saying ''Hey, The Empire Strikes Back just came out! Let's go see it this weekend!''. The original 3 Star Wars movies are the best. They're better than the garbage sequel trilogy that we just had these past 5 years.
I remember this film opened the day after Thanksgiving, and my dad took me to see it that day! Just out of nowhere, he said, get dressed, & get out to the car. I was like, huh? Where are we going? To the movies. The new Star Wars one. I went nuts! I was 9 years old.
I love that you're totally honest about what you already know instead of pretending to be shocked at certain moments. That's low-hanging fruit a lot of reactors lean into but you're transparent and I appreciate that. Nice job on watching the despecialized editions, too.
No insult to Han Solo, but if, in this instance, "anyone" refers to "non-force users". Then, yes, he qualifies. In regards to lightsaber usage, I was under the impression that the operation of a lightsaber in any capacity is what was in question. Please correct me if I was in error.
@@landenayotte There are lightsabers in the "old" times, where the on/off button was on the inside of the hilt, so only force-users can ignite them with there telekinese, but not in the canon actually .
That's so cool you reacted to the Despecialized versions. That's the only proper way to see these movies, especially for a first time viewer. I'm impressed you went to the effort to track down the despecialized versions instead of just grabbing it off of a streaming service.
That was great. There's something really special in seeing someone getting excited at exactly the same bits you did. The Star Wars trilogy has aged more gracefully than pretty much every special effect heavy films of this era, partly because the people who did the special effects were geniuses, but most importantly because the characters are the most important bit of the film. The special effects, while incredible, are there to service the plot. It says a lot that in an era where many films are aping Star Wars so hard that there's still room for the real thing.
@@ShanelleRiccio When you finish the OT, you should watch some of the many "making of" documentaries. They might help you appreciate the special effects and the battles more. "Empire of Dreams" is a good one. But there's the original "Making of Star Wars" and then the later one "From Star Wars to Jedi". I'd recommend those as well.
Yes. And then you get the other crappy 6 movies that are exactly the opposite, plus a few horrible spin-off movies all about special effects over everything.
@@MeanMrMustard1 I was frustrated with the flaws of some of the Star Wars movies, but no one can know what anyone else will think of them. The only way for someone to find out whether they like something is to watch it themselves.
I will admit that a good change of the special editions is that they replaced Clive Revill as the Emperor with Ian McDiarmid who plays him in the other films. Also it’s a huge visual upgrade.
They are just superior, and the way you should watch them as they were "fixed" by JL to fit his original vision of the films. You're missing out by not watching those versions.
@@user-sw4qd2up2s thats subjective... certain "fixes" such as the change from Vader saying "Bring My Shuttle" after the battle with luke, showing clear frustration for the first time in the film to "Alert my star destroyer, to prepare for my arrival" completely takes away the heft of the scene and the line...
@@user-sw4qd2up2s Although the effects are better, the most talked about changes in the Special Edition are the negative ones: the silly Jabba scene in ep 4, the stupid beak in the sarlac pit, etc.
@user-sw4qd2up2s. That's a terrible take. Some of the changes are great, and some are terrible. Some are absolutely NOT what Lucas "originally" had in mind, but we're instead stupid decisions he made decades later while trying to be too clever for his own good.
Hoth was actually Norway. The "rebel soldiers" in the trenches were actually borrowed from the Norwegian Army so they would react like actual soldiers in battle as all the explosions were hitting around them.
Also, the shot of Luke stumbling in the snow after escaping the Wampa was in the driveway of the hotel... there was a rough blizzard going on so they couldn't shoot... but figured they could set the camera in the doorway and have Mark Hamill go out and do that shot. All the crew stayed warm inside.
I saw all three in theaters. I was, in fact, the first ticket sold in all of Orlando, Florida for "The Empire Strikes Back," having stood in line for 18 hours to do so.
Heh, as much as I love some movies and can understand excitement for a _lot_ of things, I just don't get people standing in line for so many hours for _anything..._ It also appears to be very much a US American thing for some reason, I've never heard of anyone practically camping out "in line" for anything here in Germany (or Europe in general), not movies, not some new Apple thingy, .... Not so sure about Asia though...
There's a great line Luke says to R2 when he gets spit out of the swamp -- "You must not taste very good!" -- that Lucas cut for the specialized edition and each time I see it I get so mad. It's such a cute line!
From what I understand and have read, when they went back to do the Special Editions back in 1997, some of the original sound mix was so badly deteriorated from the original prints that they had to use an alternate sound take. Unfortunately, in this case, that meant changing the line.
This was changed because in the Special Edition, they added a few seconds of footage of Vader boarding his shuttle and then the shuttle flying towards the Star Destroyer. It helps explain how Vader got from Bespin onto his Star Destroyer so quickly. You can see that here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-v_JvPo5vMDk.html Necessary? Probably not, but with the added footage, it makes sense to change the line.
Frank Oz pulls off the Yoda voice in this pretty well. He's known for doing that kind of thing, considering he's portrayed a few Muppets, including Miss Piggy, Animal, and Fozzie. Thank you for this one, and may the force be with you. 😀
The alternative title could be “Everyone is very Stressed.” Han and Leia are short with each other because they can’t get the Falcon’s hyperdrive to work, thus they can’t get away from Vader. So it’s just a game of cat and mouse where Han’s luck is no match for Vader’s power and relentlessness. Luke is stressed because he’s been with the rebellion for three years and has learned valuable skills but has stalled in his Jedi training. So while he does want to train with Yoda, he’s restless because the rebels are scattered, time is of the essence and he has no idea where exactly his friends are in all this or if they even got away. Lando is stressed because he’s trying to stay out of the fight and off Vader’s radar, and protect Cloud City. He learns that that’s impossible and can only evacuate Bespin and join the fight to get Vader off his and his friends’ backs. Thus the Empire struck back. 😉
This has honestly been my favorite movie of all time for like 29 years running. When Yoda tries to explain the Force to Luke and then lifts the X-Wing is just a magical scene. Incredible.
Some amazing trivia about this movie, prior to release in the theaters there were only four people who knew the I am your father moment, George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Mark Hamil and James Earl Jones who did Vader's voice. James Earl Jones thought Vader was lying when he said it. Even David Prowse who did the live performance in the Vader costume through the three movie was given a "FAKE SPOILER" line that he gave when it was filmed that Obi Wan murdered Luke's father instead. Mark Hamil was told in confidence what the real lines were going to be. No one else knew until the premier. Mark Hamil has talked about how hard it was to keep the secret for so long and how shocked Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford were in the theater! :)
I remember interviews from the documentary on this. I think Irvin and George took Mark to one side and said something along the lines of "David Prowse is going to say this, but you need to react to what we're going to tell us. You're only the third person to be told this, so if it gets out, we'll know exactly where it came from!" XD
Wouldn’t John Williams have known the big secret too? He would have to know in order to come up with the right music cue for that moment (which obviously was a variation of the new Galactic Empire theme).
Williams may well have been informed as he was doing the musical score, but this incident was during filming and the scoring came later. That said, the dialogue lends itself to a dramatic score without revealing the true content of the lines, or Lucas may have just told him to up the ante at that specific point in the film.
I would think the recording engineer would know this secret as well. I have no idea. Maybe the audio levels were set and the tape recorder was turned on and the sound recording engineer left the control room? Again, I have no idea.
Lucas didn't direct this one because he was going through a stressful period in his life. Instead, he asked his old college professor Irving Kirshner to direct it.
@@danielgarza8219 I think it was worth it. The Yoda scenes needed to take a lot of time to make him look right on screen. George would have given up after a few days and try to make it work in editing like Artoo in the first movie.
Yeah, but the explosions are better when fixed I think. And you get more of the snowmonster which is cool although it looks a bit misplaced in its "CGI-ness"
I prefer the remastered of 5. He didn't add much. Exteriors in Skycity, and a few extra scenes during the battles..... Edit. Just realised I called it sky city instead of cloud city. And no one called me on it.
That beginning with "A long time ago..." and then the start of the theme with the "Star Wars" logo was *SO* freaking exciting when I was 10, in 1980. It is a *LONG* time waiting form 7 to 10 when you are that age. 3 years doesn't seem long as a grown up, but when you are a little kid, it is a really long time.
Mark Hamill's face was severely injured in a car accident shortly before filming started, and the opening scene with the wampa was luckily already written and provided the perfect excuse for why he's so bruised.
@@stevep2380 Ryan might be right. The first draft for ESB is online somewhere and I do believe the Wampa scene is in it, but it's possible it wasn't scripted to slap Luke across the face. Maybe that was added to address Mark's scars.
15:02 - The Cave of "Hope and Fear", a way represent what we fear to become. Luke is afraid he will betray his friends, that he will essentially become what Vader represents, evil! He meets his fear and sees him self in it. Something we all have to do to evolve and grow.
I love that you love the quiet, smaller scenes - as a life long SW fan, I do too! I think my fav is the 'lifting the X-Wing out of the water' and the Yoda reveal in his little hut. There's real movie magic happening there, and while yes that's also true for the big battles.... it's the more intimate moments that resonate imo.
"Go-motion" was an advance in stop motion that added in motion blur so it would look a little less stop-motion-y. As for the AT-AT: there is no consensus on pronunciation so both "at at" and A-T-A-T are considered correct and also irksome depending with whom you are speaking. As for first viewing: opening day. As a self-respecting college-age nerd (I mean, I helped put on Star Trek conventions for pete's sake) who watched the first movie during its initial run (way more than once), how could I not? I only had to stand outside in line at the mall's multiplex for an hour and a half, so not too bad. Unfortunately, one set of surround speakers in the theater didn't work right, so when Luke came to rescue his friends in the cloud city, some of the stormtrooper guns never "pew"ed. Very disconcerting.
I saw this one on opening day at the Woodfield Mall in Schaumburg, IL. I recall that the line through the parking lot was several blocks long. As soon as the final credits rolled, my friends and I all looked at each other and stayed in our seats. We ending up staying for the next showing. What really amazed me-and I’ve never experienced it in any other sequel I’ve seen-was that when each of the main characters first appeared on screen, the entire, packed theater erupted in applause and cheers.
@@ShanelleRiccio - Harrison Ford has had to be talked into reprising the role more than once, apparently because he considers the character somewhat one-dimensional. It's interesting to contrast his position when it comes to reprising playing Indiana Jones - he's always jumped at the opportunity...
One of my favorite writing choices is how they pick up the relationship between Han and Leia at the start. You get the clear impression that it has developed and there is tension. But they don't feel the need to stop the main story and recap it for us. You get the idea right away so we can move on.
I find that's true of everything in star wars! They never bother to name creatures, don't give the Emperor's name, they did't even name Boba Fett for me! They just trust their audiences to be smart, it's pretty cool that they don't feel the need to baby us
Random trivia: when Leia tells Han she loves him, he replies "I know" because Carrie Fisher kept ruining take after take with the line "I love you" (she was having drug problems at the time). Han was supposed to reply "I love you too" but Harrison Ford was frustrated and said "I know" instead. George Lucas liked it and kept it.
I was confident that she was going to like this one, it's definitely my favorite. This film was much more complex and dynamic than the first, in no small part due to the director, Irvin Kirshner (who was actually reluctant to take the job at first). He knew that the film would have to focus heavily on the characters, especially Luke. There's a lot more uncertainty and misdirection to keep people guessing, much more so than the first film. It makes the twists that much more mind-blowing when they finally come.
So cool that you reacted to the original versions. The special editions are ok but some changes shouldn’t have been done. If you want to see Vader with out his helmet check out the new Obi-Wan series. Hayden Christensen that plays Vader in the prequels is in it.
I gather that anyone can activate and use a lightsaber -- well, we saw Han do it on Hoth to open up the Taun Taun pinata. But they are tricky & very dangerous, not to mention quite rare. I believe an important step in Jedi training is to design and build your own lightsaber.
There’s also a little bit of Canon concerning the actual Khyber crystal inside the light saber and how the force user has to communicate or imbue their power into the Crystal. Edit: this is why the Darkside force users tend to have red light sabers - Khyber crystals are not naturally light or dark side - The force user has to bend the Crystal to their will - in the case of the dark side, the Crystal is actually “bleeding”, which is why it has a red saber color.
Saw this in a theatre aged 10 in 1980. Was gutted my favourite character Han was frozen and left hanging at the end. Long wait for Return of The Jedi to find out what happened to him back then!
They mention the rendezvous point, that is where the rebel ships gather after the battle on Hoth and is where they left them at the end. This is the best film
Imagine being 10 years old, sitting in the theater, watching Empire Strikes Back. It's 1980; no one knows about the connection between Luke and Vader. The movie ends and you know you have to wait another 2-3 years to find out if Vader is lying or if Han will get rescued... that was my experience and it was glorious.
I'd love to see you react to the Family Guy parodies of these films. i can't see Luke stop sliding through that Bespin-chute without thinking about them.
The star destroyers were models too with literally tens of thousands of fiber optics run through them to have all the tiny lights to give the illusion of how big they are.
BIG models. Really neat to see one up close, but when you think "model" it doesn't really prepare you for something almost the size of a small airplane.
I'm so glad you chose the original through the Harmy's Despecialized Edition. You saw it in what I say is a perfect original, but "Harmy" would probably say it is a perfect replica. I'm also glad you did the same for Star Wars (A New Hope).
Remember the feeling you had at *the* reveal and then imagine the 9 year old me, hooked on Star Wars since that opening Star Destroyer shot in ‘77, taken to the UK Premiere in Leicester Square by my Dad, hearing it after no gossip, no internet reveals, no idea it was coming. Life changing. Empire is the better piece of film making but Star Wars will always be the favourite of my inner child.
So glad you watched the original (despecialized) version! Be sure to watch the original version of Return of the Jedi too. 😊 The AT-ATs are stop motion. Saw this movie as a kid in 1980. It’s probably my brother and my favorite movie to discuss.
This movie is the best of the best for Star Wars! I still love Return of the Jedi, although it has a lot of plot contrivances. It's just so much fun. Can't wait for you to watch it, and glad you are watching the theatrical release!
To answer the Light Saber question, anyone can use a light saber, HOWEVER people that use the force can see things better as they are happening, like a split second before, so if someone that used the force fought someone that doesn't it would be a very short fight.
also, presumably very easy to lop your OWN limb(s) off, on account of how the blade would lack mass. kinda makes you wonder why no one ever just turns theirs OFF when in a clash - let the other person's own force (heh) knock 'em over, easy win.
It really depends on the experience and techniques of the fighters plus the context of the fight itself. The Pre Visla vs Maul duel was a fight where the advantage switched back and forth despite Visla not being force sensitive. For me Star Wars is more interesting when those who can’t use the force can stand a chance against those that do.
IIRC in old EU materials, some Jedi constructed their lightsabers with the activation button inside, so you'd have to both use the Force and know where it was in order to turn the saber on or off.
23:25 -- In the books, only a Jedi could use a lightsaber .. It's energy comes from The Force through the user.. --- That's why those of us who read the books were blown away when Han used it to cut open the Taun Taun... -- It's kind of a call back to the first movie.. Why Ben gives a knowing smile when Han says "There's no mystical energy field that controls my destiny." -- Ben KNEW that Han had a touch of the force. Even if Han didn't know it himself.. THAT is what made him an amazing pilot and lucky rogue.
I feel like the brilliance of that "I know" response by Han is sadly lost on a lot of people who immediately get all pissy thinking that he was just being cocky or "too cool" to say it back. But not only would it have sounded weak and been out of character for him to say "I love you too" or something equally lame, but what he's communicating with those two words says FAR more than what was originally scripted. "I know" says _"I know you love me. And I love you too. And I know we're both stubborn and uncomfortable with open expressions of our feelings and that you're only doing so now because you're afraid that these might be our final moments with each other and fear that you'll regret it for the rest of your life if were to go to my death without hearing it and knowing it... but I already know. And now you know the same. There's no need to say anything more."_
This is a perfect explanation to a perfect line. And Harrison Ford delivers it, you guessed it, perfectly. With different inflection, or even higher or lower in his register, the meaning changes completely. His facial expression is just right as well, full of resignation to the fact that, as far as he knew, they'd never see each other again.
@@tinyhato Ab-so-lutely! So well said, and such an important point that I neglected to mention. His delivery--tone, facial expression, etc--makes it unequivocally clear (to me, at least) that our interpretation is correct, and that the all-too-prevalent cynical read is way off the mark.
Harrison Ford did much the same thing in the Gun vs Sword scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. The original scene was supposed to have some elaborate whip vs sword fight between Indiana and the swordsman. Harrison Ford wasn't feeling well, and the movie was behind schedule, and kept having to stop the scene every ten minutes. He eventually just said, "Just shoot the sucker," and it was replaced with the iconic scene that was so much better.
When Leia said "I love you.", the script called for Han to say something like "I love you too.", but Ford convinced Lucas that "I know" is more likely what Han would say.
15:23 -- There are ALOT of running jokes throughout the movies.. "It's not my fault".. "I have a bad feeling about this".. -- I think each character gets to say it at least once..
I'm thrilled that you went the extra mile and are reacting to the despecialized version here. I don't think I've come across another reactor who has even *heard* of the despecialized editions before, much less have the motivation to seek them out. (As an aside, I still don't understand why - even after Disney acquired the rights to Star Wars, we haven't gotten what would amount to "official" versions of the despecialized editions.)
The tension between Han and Leia went both ways. They were being "mean" to each other since the prison break on the Death Star. Not sure how you missed it.
It doesn't get any better than this one. But Return of the Jedi is still pretty great. Please, please PLEASE see the 'despecialized' version of that one, too. The special edition Empire had only a few changes (because, well, it's hard to mess with near-perfection), but there are several very cringy changes in Jedi, so avoid that one like the plague.
The text crawl is a bit misleading, Luke is a hero of the rebellion, but he is not the leader, he's not even the leader of this group. Leia outranks him, certainly, and I think others do as well, On the Force, some are sensitive to the Force and can use it, they become better at using it with training. Most people are not Force senstive and while they may believe in it, cannot use it. You do not need the force to use a light sabre, Han cut open the Taun-taun, the Light sabres are just the tradition Jedi weapon. They do a lot with Leia's hair, she has a variery of styles, but she never has the 'space buns' again, but for some reason they are the style people remember. Go-Motion is an animation technique and a successor to stop-motion. In stop motion every frame is completely static, human eyes and brains do not work like that, 'Go-Motion' adds the motion blur, making it look more real, this was only superseded with CGI for the first time in Jurassic Park, which used a combination of practical and CGI effecnt.
This is random but would LOVE to see you react to some famous, classic horror films! Maybe like Halloween 1978, Nightmare on Elm Street, Texas Chainsaw, etc.
This movie is a Masterpiece. Most people do love Empire the most. Yeah, Lucas wasn't long out of film school, when he made Star Wars A new hope. His only film prior was a comedy/drama based near Lucas's hometown in the Central Valley CA. It was a semi autobiographical film called American Graffiti. It was my dad's favorite film, as he spent his early childhood and adolescence there at the same time depicted in the movie. It's a great film. I highly recommend it. It stars Ron Howard, Richard Dreyfuss, and Cindy William's of Laverne and Shirley fame.
An absolute classic movie ! The first 'R' rated movie I saw on cable TV,, it spawned many of the actors you mentioned, as well as the TV shows, Happy Days / Laverne&Shirley - It's also, I feel, what inspired the sneeky good recent classic 'Dazed & Confused' ... Which, in its own rite, launched many young actors, as well... Matthew Mcconaughey, Ben Affleck, Mila Jovanic etc.. Both of those, would be great movies to see on this channel. 👍👍
One thing these 3 movies do well is infuse a lot of the action with the emotional weight they need. I think its really what separates the space battles here from other sci fi before or since (including other star wars)
1. In 1980 we had no idea who Yoda was. It was a real trip. 2. "Laugh it up fuzzball" I almost lost my soda. 3. Nice cockblock C3PO (not). 4. IRL Ford and Fisher were having an affair. She was young and only 19 and he was older, married and had kids at the time. He gave the ok to put it in her biography before she died. 5. Solo's, "I know" was adlib by Ford because he thought it's something Solo's character would say. They had to change dialog in the next film because of it.
One piece of trivia that you skipped over that I've always found interesting is the scene where Luke gets attacked by the Wampa was added as an excuse for why Mark Hamill's face is all beat up. In reality, he had been in a bad car accident just prior to shooting.
@@shugaroony Yeah, because of that, they even needed to use a stand-in for Mark to do some landspeeder pick-up shots a few weeks before the movie premiered.
Hey, Shanelle! This is most people's favorite installment and widely considered to be the best Star Wars film. It certainly is mine. Young people who came of age with the Prequel trilogy often cite Episode III as their favorite. "Empire" has four strikingly distinct environments, an amazing opening battle, the Yoda reveal, the romantic sparring, a deeper explanation of the Force, Lando's treachery and redemption, the presence of fan favorite Boba Fett, the loss of Han, the Vader revelation and the cliffhanger ending. It is a wild escapist ride that packs an emotional wallop! Mark Hamill had a terrible car accident prior to filming and underwent facial reconstructive surgery. Already a part of the screenplay, the WAMPA attack on Hoth became an in-story way to explain his new look and the make-up department enhanced his barely-visible scars. Han eviscerating the TAUN TAUN is an authentic form of arctic and/or cold weather survival. He stuffed Luke's hypothermic body in the still-warm carcass of the animal wrapping him in its innards in order to keep him from freezing to death. People have done this to survive. I love it when people freak out watching that scene! BACTA is the liquid in the healing cylinder. It is a bacterial compound with regenerative properties that is the standard medical treatment for all injuries in the Star Wars galaxy. Yoda's odd little voice is provided by his puppeteer Frank Oz who voices many Jim Henson Muppets like Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear and Animal as well as Sesame Street characters like Cookie Monster, Bert and Grover! Yoda pretended to be a grubby, eccentric hermit simply to get an honest reaction out of Luke that would reveal his character. It's a test like those of the gods in Greek mythology who appear as deformed peasants to see how the hero will behave toward the lowliest person. The new player Vader was kneeling before is the Emperor! The same actor plays him in all his appearances across the saga except in the despecialized version of this film. The MYNOCKS are bat-sized creatures that feed off electrical energy and are starship pests. Sometimes they live symbiotically in the gullets of space leviathans like the EXOGORTH that swallowed the 'Falcon'! I find it amusing how social norms have changed. I've watched a number of millennials view Star Wars for the first time now on RU-vid and quite a few young women are APPALLED by Han Solo's behavior! When these movies came out, Harrison Ford became an instant mega-star and sex symbol because of his devil-may-care swagger and brash forwardness. He subscribed to the "treat a Queen like a whore and a whore like a Queen" school of seduction and WOMEN LOVED HIM FOR IT!!! You can tell he's a softie underneath which is what makes him endearing but it seems young women today find him INSUFFERABLE!!! All boys thought he was the coolest guy ever. It's funny how times change. I'm relieved that his charms weren't lost on you, Shanelle, but even you say he's being mean. He's not. She's the one being snide and aloof while he returns her jabs with affectionate ribbing! Leia was a feminist icon back in the day! An independent woman of means comfortable wielding power, unafraid to get her hands dirty and dedicated to a serious cause! A whole generation of young boys and girls grew up with her as a role model. Talented screenwriter Lawrence Kasdan was responsible for all the fun romantic banter in this film. As Leia is Alderaanian royalty and Han Solo is a Corellian street kid, it's basically a CLASS ISSUE preventing her from accepting her feelings for Solo. The constant arguing is their foreplay as he wears her down with his roguish charm. Lol. Harrison Ford's famous "I know." reply to Leia's declaration of love was ad-libbed by Ford who wasn't feeling the more generic "I love you, too." line from the script. Director Irvin Kershner and George Lucas kept it in the movie. It's perfect for the character. I've seen others take DEEP OFFENSE! Keep in mind that Solo has been upfront with Leia about his feelings for her for THREE YEARS at this point! She's the one who has been coy with him despite her obvious attraction. Her admission is what HE'S been patiently waiting for and he matter-of-factly tells her he's fully aware of how she feels. It's the answer SHE DESERVES! Lol. The movies were remastered in the late '90s to promote the upcoming Prequel trilogy with some CGI overlays of the original practical effects but this installment has the fewest egregious changes and looks much like the unaltered 1980 version you saw. The Wampa feeding, some aerial shots of Cloud City, a clearer view of the Emperor and some windows cut into corridors Leia, Lando and Chewie are running through at the end which look out onto the Bespin cityscape are the only updates I can think of. People were SO INVESTED in this franchise back in 1980 that scrutiny during production was INTENSE!! They had the actor in the Vader suit, David Prowse, speak different lines to Luke to conceal the reveal even though Hamill was told what to react to. Dummy scripts were used on set to throw off snoops and spies. James Earl Jones was told the truth just prior to recording the scene. When Jones uttered those immortal words on screen, "No, I am your father.", audiences collectively GASPED, SCREAMED, CRIED, FAINTED and SHOUTED their dismay! It remains one of cinema's MOST ICONIC MOMENTS.
I love The Main Theme for its nostalgia value (and because it's awesome), but The Imperial March is probably my favourite piece from all the soundtracks created by the genius John Williams.
Mad probs for using the despecialized versions! Although Empire was actually the one that had the least changes, but Return of the Jedi is so much worse in the Special Edition.
I agree, ROTJ is ruined with the appalling change to the musical number in Jabba's palace. I have given up hope of ever seeing the original cuts in theatres, but MAYBE Disney will release them in 4K at some point. Till then, the despecialized editions are the best way to see the original trilogy.
@@rmnffx To this day I can't watch the ending of ROTJ or the musical number. I wouldn't mind if there just cosmetic changes, like brightening some of the colors for example, but major alternations like the ones mentioned here are unbearable to watch.
I saw the OT in theaters in '76 and the next two also in the theaters. They were movie magic, just like Raiders of the Lost Ark, ET, and other films of the time. I'm lucky to own the OT in original form, letterbox edition, on video. Do yourself a big favor and skip the Star Wars prequels (I-III) and sequels (V-IX). They are horrible movies per se, and an insult to the OT, the viewers and the fans. I'd also skip the various OT special editions by Lucas.
