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With the phenomenal success of Star Wars in 1977, George Lucas realized he could continue the planned trilogy he had been outlining since the early 1970s. His original outline contained the raw material for Episodes IV, V and VI as well as the nebulous backstory that would become the foundation for the current prequels. So in 1978, with Star Wars (which would be rechristened Episode IV: A New Hope) earning hundreds of millions in box office receipts, Lucas, producer Gary Kurtz and the Lucasfilm production team began work on The Empire Strikes Back, the film most Star Wars fans believe is the best in the entire saga.
Lucas gave his story to Leigh Brackett, an acclaimed science fiction writer, and hired her to write the screenplay. She passed away soon after finishing the first draft, so Lucas (who would serve as executive producer) handed the project over to up-and-coming writer-director Lawrence Kasdan (Body Heat, Continental Divide, and Raiders of the Lost Ark). Furthermore, he handed the directing reins to Irvin Kershner (The Eyes of Laura Mars); the Star Wars shoot had drained Lucas emotionally and physically, so the series creator focused on the behind-the-scenes aspects of Empire's production.
The Empire Strikes Back picks up the narrative some three years after the events of Episode IV: A New Hope. Despite their impressive victory at Yavin, the Rebels' destruction of the Empire's Death Star marked only the true start of the Galactic Civil War. Darth Vader (Dave Prowse, voice of James Earl Jones), last seen heading into deep space in his damaged TIE fighter, made his way to Imperial territory and was given the assignment of eradicating the main resistance cell of the Rebellion. Somewhere along the line (and the movies never explained this), Vader discovered the identity of the X-Wing pilot who destroyed the Death Star. Some time after the Battle of Yavin, the Empire forced the Rebels to flee from their hidden base and pursued them across the galaxy. Now, as the title crawl narrates, Vader, "obsessed with finding young Skywalker, dispatches thousands of remote probes into the deep reaches of space."
One of these probes crashes on Hoth, an icy world in the backwaters of the galaxy and so inhospitable that even smugglers avoid it. Its fiery descent is seen by Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), now a commander of Rogue Squadron, as he rides on his trusty tauntaun. However, before he can check it out, he's attacked by a Wampa ice creature and dragged off to its cave for future consumption.
Meanwhile, unaware of his friend's plight, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) returns to the Rebel base and tells the commanding officer (Bruce Boa) that he's leaving the Alliance to pay the vile gangster Jabba the Hutt the money he still owes from an incident predating his involvement with the Rebellion. When Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) reacts angrily to his decision to leave, he tells her he knows she wants him to stay not because he's "a natural leader" for the Rebel pilots but "because of the way you feel about me." But their sparring is interrupted when Luke (now hanging by his ankles on an ice cave's ceiling) is reported overdue and Han recklessly rides out into the bitter cold of a Hoth night to find him.
Skywalker, aided by his untrained Jedi abilities, manages to escape from the Wampa before he becomes its dinner, and runs out into the teeth of a Hoth night storm. Before collapsing in exhaustion, the spirit of his slain mentor Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (Alec Guinness) appears before him and tells Luke he must "go to the Dagobah system. There you will learn from Yoda, the Jedi Master who instructed me." Ben disappears and Luke falls unconscious to the snow, but Han reaches him in the nick of time.
Although Han's tauntaun dies and the two friends must themselves be rescued by Alliance pilots, Luke survives and everyone is briefly reunited. But the Imperial probe that Luke failed to investigate discovers the Rebel base and reports to the Imperial fleet. Soon, Vader and his hordes of Imperial forces, supported by a fleet of Star Destroyers and lumbering armored transports, descend on Hoth, and the band of Star Warriors scatters. Luke and his astromech droid R2-D2 fly off to Dagobah to find Yoda, while Han, Leia, Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) are pursued relentlessly by Imperial ships and the bounty hunter Boba Fett (Jeremy Bulloch).
The Empire Strikes Back took very big risks, such as surprising fans with its Episode V subtitle, having its big battle take place during the first half of the movie, giving the director's chair to Kershner, and making the ending a big cliffhanger with so many story threads left dangling. Would Luke complete his training with Yoda (Frank Oz)? Could Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) be trusted? Who did Leia really love, Luke or Han? Most importantly, was Vader really Luke's father, as he claims at the end of the de rigeur lightsaber duel on Cloud City? For three years, fans theorized and conjectured many different scenarios and grumbled about the unfinished feel of the ending, but Empire was a resounding critical and popular success. The script and directing gave Episode V depth and more personality shadings to the characters, the effects were even better than the first film's, and John Williams' brilliant score built on A New Hope's established musical themes and added new and more interesting leitmotivs that gave the Star Wars saga its operatic sweep. Empire is one of those rare sequels that in some ways surpasses its predecessor film, and almost 25 years after its release it still thrills and chills its many fans.
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Could be worse.
The main reason why I bought this disk is(like most of the people here) ORIGINAL THEATRICAL version. First when I watched the back cover, which says that it has 4:3 aspect ratio, I thought: "Well, maybe the picture is zoomed like on old VHS tapes". No, it's not zoomed. So what you get is a full picture, but, because of the aspect ratio, it's so small you have to zoom it by yourself. And if you need subs, that causes an even bigger problem, because they're placed on the black line under the actual movie. So in this case you can't zoom the picture to full screen to keep the subs uncroped(photo added). The picture is a little bit blured, but I guess this is pretty standard for this kind of version(well, that's why it's the ORIGINAL version; I never expected to get blu-ray-sharp picture). And after all it reminded me about these times when I watched Star Wars on VHS, where(as I remember) everything was even more blured. When I read the comments, I first thought that the picture is zoomed and pixelated, but everything turned out to be not that bad. And despite all the problems with aspect ratio and subs positioning I still enjoyed it.
Top reviews from other countries
Paul Damasio
Regarded as the best in the trilogy. And for good reason.
Reviewed in Canada on October 22, 2024The Real Boss Hoss
Star Wars: Episode V – Das Imperium schlägt zurück (Original-Kinoversion + Special Edition, 2 DVDs)
Reviewed in Germany on November 16, 2023
The Real Boss Hoss
Reviewed in Germany on November 16, 2023
Bestellt über AMAZON. Aber gebraucht aus dem Bestand von Medimops (siehe Bild). Zustand OK.
Star Wars Episode V zählt schon seit Erstsichtung zu meinem Lieblingsfilm der Trilogie. Faszinierend fand ich, dass es neben der deutschen und englischen Spur eine Spanische gibt. Leider sonst sehr selten. Seltsam fand ich, dass im Weltbekannten INTRO-Vorspann, wie auch schon bei Episode IV der Text auf Englisch mit deutschen Untertiteln läuft. War damals im Kino und auf der alten VHS Version nicht so. Ich glaube zu STAR WARS muss man eigentlich nichts mehr erzählen. Ich besaß seit ihrer Erscheinung schon die silberne DVD-Box mit den Episoden 4 bis 6 plus Zusatz DVD. Auf dieser befinden sich natürlich die bearbeiteten und restaurierten Versionen wie hier auf dieser oben genannten. Leider damals zu früh zugeschlagen. Weil ich einfach nochmal die unbearbeitete Originalversion von 1980 sehen wollte, musste ich hier zugreifen.
Ich bewerte hier also die Originalversion von 1980 wie ich sie damals sehr oft im Kino geschaut habe.
FAZIT: Einfach genial. So muss es damals gewesen sein. Ein breiter Streifen oben und unten schwarz. Einfach das Original. Ton und Bildqualität auch völlig ok. Was ich nicht wusste, der Imperator wird hier witzigerweise von einer Lady (Elaine Baker) dargestellt. Stimme aber wohl dann doch von Jemand anders. Die Schlacht in der Eiswüste von Hoth wirkt bei der Originalversion von 1980, im Vergleich zu restaurieren Version nun doch etwas blass.
Außerdem werden hier auf dieser 2. DVD Disc noch zusätzlich Extras angeboten, die mich aber wirklich nicht interessierten. STAR WARS LEGO interessiert mich nun wirklich nicht.
Gebe alle Sterne.
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