Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back
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This article is about
the movie Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. You may be looking for
the in-universe axiom "The Empire strikes back".
- "This is a dangerous time for you, when you will be tempted by the dark side of the Force."
- ―Obi-Wan Kenobi[src]
Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back is the second film and the fifth chapter in the film series by George Lucas. Originally released in 1980, the film has proved to be one of the most popular films of the series among many fans and critics. It was the best selling Star Wars movie to date making the top five most sold in theatre list. It was re-released with changes in 1997. A 3-D release is tentatively planned,[source?] but no release date is known. A radio adaptation was broadcast on National Public Radio in the U.S.
The film concerns the continuing struggles of the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire. In it, Han Solo, Chewbacca, and Princess Leia Organa are being pursued across space by Darth Vader and his elite forces. Meanwhile, Luke Skywalker begins his major Jedi training with Yoda, after a suggestion from Obi-Wan Kenobi's spirit. In an emotional confrontation with Vader, Luke is presented with a horrific revelation, and must face his destiny.
Opening crawl
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Episode V
THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
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It is a dark time for the
Rebellion. Although the Death
Star has been destroyed,
Imperial troops have driven the
Rebel forces from their hidden
base and pursued them across
the galaxy.
Evading the dreaded Imperial
Starfleet, a group of freedom
fighters led by Luke Skywalker
have established a new secret
base on the remote ice world
of Hoth.
The evil lord Darth Vader,
obsessed with finding young
Skywalker, has dispatched
thousands of remote probes into
the far reaches of space…
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Synopsis
The search for Skywalker
- "We have thousands of probe droids searching the galaxy. I want proof, not leads!"
- ―Admiral Ozzel[src]
It is now three years after the events in A New Hope. The Rebels have been forced to flee their Rebel base on Yavin 4 and establish a new one on the ice planet of Hoth.
An Imperial Star Destroyer dispatched by Darth Vader, continuing his quest for Luke Skywalker, dispatches thousands of probe droids across the galaxy, one of which lands on Hoth and begins its survey of the planet. Luke Skywalker, on patrol astride his tauntaun, discovers the probe, which he mistakes for a meteorite. After reporting to comrade Han Solo, he is knocked unconscious by a deadly wampa creature.
When Luke does not come back to Echo Base, Han Solo goes out on his tauntaun to search for him in an encroaching storm. Luke finds himself waking up hanging upside down in an ice cave, facing another wampa eating his tauntaun. Using the Force, Luke is able to pull his lightsaber towards himself. After he ignites it, he cuts himself free and cuts off the attacking wampa's arm and escapes into the cold night of Hoth.
Luke tries to make his way to Echo Base on foot, but he finds himself caught in a blizzard and collapses in the snow. Suddenly, he sees the Force ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi appear before him. Ben tells Luke to go to Dagobah to undergo training under Yoda, a Jedi Grand Master. After the spirit disappears, Han rides up to an almost unconscious Luke, who is mumbling indistinctly about Ben, Yoda and Dagobah. At this point, the tauntaun that Han was riding on collapses and dies from the extreme cold. To keep Luke warm during the blizzard, Han uses Luke's lightsaber to cut open the dead tauntaun and places Luke in it. Han then sets about erecting a shelter that he and Luke will stay in during the night. They are forced to stay out during the night as the aircraft (snowspeeders) that the Rebels use for atmospheric flight had not yet been adapted for the extremely low temperatures of the Hoth night and are therefore unable to mount a rescue operation to retrieve Han or Luke.
The next morning, Rebel Pilots flying the snowspeeders set out from Echo Base to search for the missing men. Zev Senesca, one of the pilots in Rogue Squadron makes contact with Han over comlink and the pair are rescued. When they are taken back to base, Luke is put in a Bacta tank for healing.
Princess Leia Organa tries to urge Han to stay with the rebels, and when Han assumes it is because she has feelings for him, Leia loses her temper and calls him a "stuck-up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf herder."
Meanwhile, the probe droid has spotted signs that indicate Hoth is occupied and sends a signal to the Imperial fleet, shortly before being destroyed by Han Solo and Chewbacca. Aboard the Executor, Admiral Ozzel dismisses the information as evidence of smugglers, nothing more. However, Darth Vader knows better and orders the fleet to Hoth. General Rieekan, realizing the Empire is probably aware of their location, orders the evacuation of Echo Base to begin.
The Battle of Hoth
Darth Vader and the Imperial forces set course for the Hoth system to set up the attack. The rebels load whatever equipment they can onto transports and plan a rear-guard action to secure their escape. Luke, now fully recovered from the Wampa attack and subsequent exposure, says farewell to Chewbacca and Solo, who have decided to leave the Alliance to resolve their debt to Jabba the Hutt. As the Imperial forces enter the Hoth system, General Rieekan orders full power to the energy shield that is protecting the base from orbital bombardment.
Aboard the Executor, Vader realizes Admiral Ozzel has emerged from lightspeed so close to Hoth that the Rebels have been alerted to the fleet's arrival. Via video communication, Vader Force chokes Ozzel to death for his actions, then appoints Captain Piett the new Admiral. Vader orders the Imperial ground forces to land outside the Rebels' shield and march overland to destroy the shield generator.
Princess Leia gives the Rebel fighters instructions on the evacuation to leave Hoth two to three ships at a time past the energy shield to a rendezvous point, which is beyond the outer rim. Rieekan raises the shields to fire the Ion cannon at one of the Imperial Star Destroyers allowing the first transports to escape. The Rebel pilots assigned to hold off the Imperial ground assault depart the Hoth base for the oncoming battle against heavily equipped Imperial forces, who are armed with agile AT-STs (All Terrain Scout Transports) and monstrous AT-AT (All Terrain Armored Transport) walkers.
The snowspeeder group, led by Luke, commences the attack, but realizing the AT-AT's armor is too strong for blasters, decides to use attached harpoons and tow cables to tangle the walker's legs. Luke's gunner Dak is hit and killed during the first approach so Wedge Antilles and his gunner Janson take the first shot and manage to destroy one of the AT-ATs. The main AT-AT, commanded by General Veers, prepares to take their aim at the Rebel base's main generator. Suddenly, Luke's speeder is shot down by the Imperials, and crash-lands in the snow. Luke escapes before the AT-AT can step on and crush his ship.
The Rebel base is now under direct attack and Imperial snowtroopers have entered the base, forcing Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and Threepio to escape. Leia gives the evacuation command for the base as they leave.
Luke, meanwhile, manages to destroy another AT-AT by using his cable and lightsaber to get into the belly of the transport, tossing in a Thermal Detonator, and then detaching himself from the cable as a series of explosions neutralize the AT-AT. The Rebels suffer major casualties as the result of the battle. The main AT-AT gets within firing range of the generator, then successfully blasts and destroys it.
Han, Leia, and company, now realizing they are being followed by Vader (who has arrived personally on Hoth), make their way to Millennium Falcon in time to escape. As the Falcon flies off, Luke reaches Artoo and his X-Wing and finally departs Hoth. Changing course from the rendezvous point, he sets his coordinates for Dagobah.
Han and company are pursued by Imperial fighters. Flipping the switch to take them to lightspeed, Han realizes (with reluctant help from Threepio) that the hyperdrive has been damaged. While trying to fix the hyperdrive system, Han enters an asteroid field to hamper pursuit. He manages to land inside one of the larger asteroids to rest and find a way to fix the ship.
The destiny of a Jedi
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Sorry about the mess.
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Luke lands on the swamp planet Dagobah. There, he discovers a diminutive figure who tries to help Luke. The figure invites Luke to his cave for dinner.
Back on the Falcon, while Leia tries to make repairs, Han makes his move on the Princess, drawing himself closer to her before both end up in a passionate kiss. When Threepio arrives, Leia withdraws and walks away.
The Imperial search begins to take its toll: an asteroid blew off the bridge tower of a Star Destroyer. On the Executor, Vader communicates with the captains of the other ships (the one from the ship that blew up fades away). One officer, Captain Lorth Needa, tells Vader that they should consider their damage. Vader firmly says they will continue the search. Shortly afterwards, Admiral Piett informs Vader that the Emperor commands he make contact with him. Vader orders his ship out off the asteroid field for a clear transmission.
In his private quarters, Vader receives a holographic message from the Galactic Emperor, who alerts the Dark Lord to a "new enemy who could destroy" the Empire...Luke Skywalker. Vader suggests that if Luke could be turned, "he would be a powerful ally". The Dark Lord declares Luke will join the Empire "or die".
That evening, Luke's patience (or lack thereof) is put to the test. The diminutive figure declares the boy lacks patience, but the voice of Kenobi tells the figure that the boy will learn patience if he is to be trained. Only then does Luke discover the figure is Yoda. Yoda asks Kenobi if he will finish whatever training he begins, then suspects that Luke will be afraid at some point.
The next day, the Falcon manages to escape what turns out to be the mouth of a space slug (who resided in one of the asteroids the Falcon landed in). Meanwhile, Luke begins a rigorous training regime from Yoda which includes moral lessons about the dangers of the Dark Side of the Force. That particular lesson is driven home when he is told to enter a cave that is strong with the Dark Side's power. Ignoring Yoda's counsel to leave his weapons, Luke enters the cavern armed. Once inside, he has a vision of himself angrily confronting Darth Vader and beheading him. However, the severed head's mask bursts apart and reveals Luke's face underneath; it is a warning that if Luke battles Vader with no emotional control, he will become Vader himself, seduced by the Dark Side.
Back on the Star Destroyer, Vader enlists the bounty hunters, Boba Fett, Dengar, IG-88, Bossk, 4-LOM and Zuckuss to find the Millennium Falcon for a "substantial reward". One of the Imperial commanders finally spots the Falcon, leading to another pursuit which results in the Falcon eluding the Empire by making the insanely counter intuitive move of attacking the lead Star Destroyer. However, at the last moment, the ship veers off and secretly attaches itself to the ship, which is not extensively covered by sensors, making it appeared to have vanished in the Empire's point of view.
Days later, while training, Luke discovers his X-wing fighter about to sink into the lake, then breaks concentration. Luke declares he will never be able to get the ship out, seeing that it is too big for him to extract from the water. Yoda says it is "no different, only different in your mind." Luke says he'll "try" to lift the ship, but Yoda says "try not! Do or do not, there is no try." Luke tries to use the Force, but to no avail. Yoda reminds him that "size matters not" and gives him wisdom about the Force. Luke denies all of this, then Yoda decides to use the Force to lift the ship out himself. Luke is dumbfounded and incredulous. Yoda senses the youngster's failures within his mind.
When the fleet disperses to search for the Falcon, the Rebels wait for the ship to do its standard dump of refuse before jumping, then detach to float away with it. The Falcon's hyperdrive needs repairs, so Han decides to make their way to Cloud City, a gas-mining colony run by his "old friend" Lando Calrissian. Unfortunately, the bounty hunter Boba Fett had deduced the Falcon's escape method and had his ship jettisoned with the waste to stealthily follow the fugitives.
The next day, Yoda reminds Luke of the things the young Jedi will see in his mind, the future, the past, and of friends he recognizes. Luke breaks concentration again and has a vision of his friends in danger. He wants to leave Dagobah to rescue them. Yoda reminds him that if Luke leaves now, everything his friends fought and suffered for will be destroyed.
The city in the clouds
Upon arrival at Cloud City, Han's party is welcomed by Lando. However, there are numerous elements that make the Rebels suspicious, not the least of which being C-3PO being found deactivated, dismembered, and almost recycled.
That evening, Luke and Artoo prepare themselves to leave Dagobah, but are warned by both Yoda and the spirit form of Kenobi not to end training so soon for a fight Luke is not ready for. Ben declares that should Luke decide to face Vader, he will have to face him alone without interference. Luke understands this, and his ship takes off from Dagobah. Yoda is disappointed, declaring Luke reckless. Ben tells Yoda that Luke is the Jedi's last hope, but Yoda answers back, "there is another..."
A day later, Han and company find themselves betrayed by Calrissian who was approached by the Empire before the Rebels' arrival and threatened him and the city unless he cooperated. They became the captives of Darth Vader, who proceeds to torture Han to create a disturbance in the Force for Luke to detect.
That afternoon, Vader enters a carbon-freezing chamber intending to freeze Luke Skywalker once he arrives. The Dark Lord uses the opportunity for Boba Fett to deliver Solo to Jabba the Hutt (to whom Han owed a debt) by testing the device on Solo himself. Han and company enter the chamber for the experiment. At first, Chewbacca resists the stormtroopers, but Han restrains him, saving his strength for another time. Han says goodbye to Leia with a passionate kiss before he is escalated into the carbon freezing chamber. When he is successfully entombed in carbonite in a state of suspended animation, Vader hands over Han to bounty hunter Boba for transportation to Tatooine to receive a bounty from Jabba. One of the Imperial commanders informs Vader that Luke's starfighter has arrived on Bespin. The Dark Lord orders Lando to take Leia, Chewbacca, and Threepio to his Star Destroyer, reneging on a deal he made with Lando. But the Cloud City administrator has other plans.
Duel with the Dark Lord
Luke makes his way to Bespin safely. He quietly walks down the corridors of Cloud City. Boba Fett eventually finds Luke and tries to shoot him. Luke narrowly escapes and runs down farther into the corridor. He finally meets up with Leia, Chewie, and Lando, who have been captured by stormtroopers. Luke tries to ambush the group of Imperials, but is unsuccessful. Leia yells at him and tells him that "its a trap!" Luke runs after his captured friends, hoping to save them, but wanders into the carbon-freezing chamber. There, he meets with Vader and the two fight in an epic lightsaber duel, where Luke's undeveloped Jedi skills are no match for Vader.
The Imperials (escorting the Rebel prisoners out of Bespin) are overpowered by Cloud City security, setting Lando and company free. Chewbacca turns against Lando for betraying Han and chokes him, but he manages to tell the Wookiee there's still a chance to rescue Han at the East Platform. Threepio is reunited with his companion Artoo. Lando and company arrive too late as Fett's ship takes off, then engage in a fierce battle with stormtroopers.
Luke and Vader continue their lightsaber battle in the bowels of Cloud City, just nearly freezing Luke in the carbon freezing chamber. Vader uses the Dark Side of the Force against Luke by using whatever equipment is at hand, eventually thrusting Luke through a window and landing on one of the emergency platforms.
As the gunfight continues, Lando orders an evacuation of Cloud City, then the company manages to find their last hope of escape...the Millennium Falcon.
In the final phase of the lightsaber duel, Vader manages to cut off Luke's right hand, which then falls (along with the lightsaber which the hand grasped) into an abyss. In perhaps one of the most memorable scenes in cinema history, Vader reveals to Luke the truth about his father:
- "Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father."—Darth Vader
- "He told me enough! He told me you killed him!"—Luke Skywalker
- "No. I am your father."—Darth Vader
Luke screams in total denial. Vader attempts to persuade Luke to join him and embrace the Dark Side to defeat the Emperor. However, Luke chooses suicide over being corrupted and throws himself down a deep shaft.
Luke is sucked into an air vent, exits the underbelly of the city and catches an antenna beneath Cloud City. Facing clear death, Luke calls out to Ben Kenobi in vain (Kenobi swore not to help Luke once he faced Vader). Then, he calls out to the only other one who could help...Leia.
Leia mysteriously senses Luke's telepathic distress signal. The Falcon turns around and comes back to Cloud City. Using an escape hatch, Lando manages to catch Luke and rescue him before the wounded Jedi falls helplessly to the planet as TIEs race toward them. The Falcon finally leaves Bespin's gravitational field and is about to escape into hyperspace when the hyperdrive system again fails. Vader asks for confirmation that the Millennium Falcon's hyperdrive system was deactivated to prevent their escape, then orders weapons be set to stun.
The Rebels regroup and plan to rescue Han.
As the Imperials pursue the Falcon, the injured Luke telepathically hears the voice of Vader calling to him. He answers, "Father...", while Vader telepathically calls, "Son, come with me". Luke senses it is Vader, then cries, "Ben, why didn't you tell me?"
Threepio commands that Artoo finish reconstructing him after his ordeal in Cloud City. However, with quick ingenuity, Artoo manages to re-activate the Falcon's hyperdrive system just in time for the ship to flee to hyperspace. Vader is disappointed and retreats to his secret quarters in his Star Destroyer, ignoring Piett's failure.
The film ends on a Nebulon-B Class Medical Frigate at the Rebel fleet's rendezvous point, where Luke is outfitted with a prosthetic hand. Lando and Chewbacca begin their parts of a most dangerous mission...rescuing Han. Lando promises to Leia they'll bring her back the man she loves. Luke, Leia, and the droids look on as the Falcon departs for unknown territories. Their own fates and futures are now uncertain. But the time will come when all will be resolved...it is only a question of how long.
Appearances
Cast
Crew
Characters
Sentient species
Locations
Events
Ships and vehicles
Other items
Creatures
Droid models
Organizations
Behind the scenes
Filming
Filming lasted from March 5 until September 24, 1979. Some of the Hoth sequence was filmed in Norway, in the area from the railway station Finse to the Hardangerjøkelen glacier. The scenes on Dagobah, Cloud City and inside the Hoth Echo Base were shot at Elstree Studios, England.
Major musical themes
Critical reception
Since the release of its sequel, Return of the Jedi, many consider this installment to be the best of the entire saga. The acting is arguably much stronger than in any of the other Star Wars films. The direction is arguably the most operatic and confident, and is not over-reliant on editing.
According to the actors, Irvin Kershner would encourage group discussions and improvizations from the actors, and would do many takes of each scene, in contrast to Lucas, who would always stick to the script, usually do about three takes, and offer little direction to the actors.
It is believed to be the most morally ambiguous and darkest of the original trilogy; it is also the only one of the six Star Wars films in which no major character dies.
The Empire Strikes Back initially only received mixed reviews. Many critics had problems with the story, but at the same time said the film was a technical achievement. Only in later years was the film considered the greatest in the Saga by many of the fans. Critics had various reactions to changes introduced in re-releases of this film.
Re-releases
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The Empire Strikes Back on DVD
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The 2006 Unaltered Edition
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Along with the other two films of his original trilogy, George Lucas issued a Special Edition of The Empire Strikes Back in 1997, making a number of changes and additions, including replacing a piece of music from the closing scene.
DVD release
On September 21, 2004 the three original movies were finally released on DVD.
There have been a few further minor changes to the film on this release—such as sound effects and improvements to the visual quality of the film. One highly noticeable change involving visually quality improvement is that the odd pink glow was removed from the Cloud City entrance scene, where the Cloud Car was replaced with a Tibanna gas refinery in the 1997 theatrical version.
In addition, the scene in which Darth Vader speaks with the Emperor was altered for the DVD release. Clive Revill, who performed Palpatine's voice, and the unknown actor who portrayed Palpatine were both replaced with Ian McDiarmid, who would eventually be cast for the same role in Return of the Jedi, and all three prequels. However, Clive Revill's name still appeared in the movie's credits as the actor for Palpatine. McDiarmid re-recorded the dialogue with James Earl Jones and they both added more lines for this scene.
Another addition was Temuera Morrison providing the voice for Boba Fett, further establishing the fact that Boba is indeed a clone of Jango Fett. It is unknown in this film if Boba is the last remaining clone of Jango.
Deleted scenes
Trivia
- There are no words emphasized by all-caps in the opening crawl of any of the odd-numbered movies.
- According to the documentary Empire of Dreams, the movie originally had a budget of $25 million, which was considered big-budget at the time. However, certain production problems (especially while filming the Hoth scenes in snow-bound Norway) caused the budget to rise to $33 million, making it one of the most expensive movies of its day. George Lucas intended to finance the film entirely from his profits from the first picture, but the budget overruns forced him to approach 20th Century Fox with hat in hand, resulting in a favorable distribution deal for the studio.
- Many people believe that Darth Vader's famous line is "Luke, I am your father". In actuality, Vader says: "No, I am your father". However, in the NPR radio adaptation, Vader's actual line was, "No, Luke, I am your father".
- Great secrecy surrounded the fact that Darth Vader was Luke's father. David Prowse, who spoke all of Vader's lines during filming, was told to say, "Obi-Wan killed your father", and, until the film premiered, only George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Mark Hamill, and James Earl Jones knew what would really be said. Jones later reported that his reaction to the line was, "Oh, he's lying!"
- The Imperial March is heard for the first time in the Trilogy in this movie. It is heard after the Rebel base is discovered on Hoth and the Imperial fleet prepares to attack. The ominous and menacing musical theme soon becomes associated with Darth Vader and becomes his theme.
- During the Falklands War which took place in 1982, two years after the film was released, when the British task force sailed from Britain, a number of newspapers and magazines carried the headline The Empire Strikes Back!. In the James Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies, the main headline of a newspaper on a computer is titled "The Empire Will Strike Back"
- The famous 1980s Swedish rock group Imperiet took their name from this movie. Imperiet means "the empire."
- The platform the Millennium Falcon lands on at Cloud City is numbered 327, the same number as the bay the Falcon lands in on the Death Star in A New Hope. In The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon Jinn identifies Queen Amidala's ship as a "J-type 327 Nubian."
- This is the only Star Wars movie (in the main 6) which ends in space. The other Star Wars movies end on a planet. Episodes I and II end on Naboo. Episode III ends on Tatooine. Episode IV ends on Yavin IV. Episode VI ends on the Forest Moon of Endor.
- Boba Fett was the first character whose first appearance in a Star Wars film was predated by an appearance in some other medium, in this case an appearance in an animated short included in the 1978 The Star Wars Holiday Special (although in the Special Edition re-release of A New Hope he is seen as part of Jabba the Hutt's posse at Docking Bay 94, this was a newly filmed actor in the costumed filmed specifically for the 1997 release to be inserted into the vintage footage, much like the CG Jabba character).
- Ian McDiarmid did not play the Emperor in the original release of the film. The new version of the scene between Darth Vader and The Emperor (on the DVD) was filmed during principal photography of
