Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back
Latest Reflections from the Guild
It's been a while since I've seen this movie so I need to watch it again before I do a plot summary and nitpicking. However, John Latchem sent a list for each of the movies in the trilogy so I thought I'd start a file!
Reflections from the Guild
[Note from Phil: I have not verified these but they sounded good to me!]
Scott McCool of West Chester, PA: When Han is about to be frozen, whenever there is a close-up of him, he is in his black flight jacket, but whenever it is zoomed out, he only has on the white shirt that he wears under it. Also, when he is frozen, his hands are bound, so how does he get into that hands reaching out pose? (Note from Phil: Prior to starting these files Sara Meeks also noted the nit concerning Han's jacket.)
John William Latchem: These nits are based on the Star Wars Trilogy Letterboxed Edition VHS Collectors set released in 1992.
This is probably my favorite of the trilogy. The dark themes, the great John Williams score, excellent special effects. But now to the lighter side, THE NITS!
Han cuts open the tauntaun and it looks as if he shoves Luke's head into it. He is Luke supposed to breathe?
The officer who tells Leia they have to close the shield doors sure looks a lot like Cliff Claven from "Cheers." Actually its John Ratzenberger, the same actor.
Why don't the Rebels send out some X-Wings against the AT-ATs? X-Wings can fire proton torpedoes which might be effective.
When Leia and Han begin to kiss, Han is holding Leia's hand. The scene widens and suddenly Leia's hand is behind Han's head.
On Dagobah, Luke cuts off the fake Vader's head. The head roles and stops, facing to the viewer's right. After a reaction shot of Luke, the head is leaning towards the viewer's left, where it explodes for the viewer to see Luke's face.
After Vader kills Captain Needa, some troopers come by to take the body away. Watch Needa's legs. As the guards pick him up, the dead man helps them out by standing up!
The Millennium Falcon is instructed to land at Bespin Docking Bay 327. How coincidental that in the previous movie the Falcon landed at Death Star Docking Bay 327.
When Luke first finds Boba Fett and Leia on Bespin, Stormtroopers fire on him. Luke ducks behind a wall, then leans forward to assess the situation. The shot from behind shows him peering around the wall, his blaster angled up. Then there is a shot from the front, and Luke's blaster is down, pointing forward. The scene changes to a shot from the back again and the blaster is angled up again.
Which controls activate and deactivate the hyperdrive on the Millennium Falcon? In Star Wars han pulls the throttle on the front panel to activate the hyperdrive, and then turns it off with a switch on the wall behind the pilot's seat. In this movie he tries twice to activate the hyperdrive with the central throttle, but later Lando tells Chewie to hit it and Chewie hits two switches to the wall on his right. In Return of the Jedi Lando both activates and deactivates the hyperdrive with the central throttle.
After Lando and Chewie realize the hyperdrive doesn't work, the shot changes to the bridge of the Star Destroyer where Vader confirms that his men disabled the hyperdrive. The rank badges on the officer's chests are on the right of their chests for this scene only. In the rest of this movie and the other two the rank insignia are on the left side of their chests. It is obvious that the footage is reversed for this scene.
When the Falcon is flying alongside the Super Star Destroyer, why isn't the front of the ship visible from the cockpit? There are two struts which extend beyond the cockpit. On a similar note, why isn't the front of the Super Star Destroyer visable from the bridge? That ship is 5 miles long!
Christopher Pope: 1. Threepio tells Artoo that it's supposed to be freezing in Leia's chambers and that all of Leia's clothes are wet as a result, presumably from something melting onto them. There is a limit to how long a person can survive in a below-freezing environment. Does Leia sleep in a room that is below freezing? Does she normally store her clothes at such a cold temperature. Could this be connected to her temperament during the first part of the movie. (Sorry. That was unkind.)
2. Threepio refers to a "thermal heater." Isn't this term somewhat redundant?
3. As for how the Empire's ground troops got beneath the energy shield, the novel "Jedi Under Siege," unofficial though it may be, presents a plausible course of action: the shield only covers a small part of the planet like an umbrella. Go around and under the shield, and there you go! (I assume the shield had to be opened not for the transports to escape, but for the ion cannon to cover them.)
4. While the Millennium Falcon is docked inside the cave (which is later revealed to be a slug), the crew goes outside to exterminate some mynocks. Of course, since they're not in an atmosphere, they wear breath masks. But what about air pressure? Space is a vacuum, and so is the interior of any asteroid cave. Unless the crew knew themselves to be inside a creature that has internal air pressure, wouldn't they have put on pressure suits? Similarly, the gravity seems pretty strong for an asteroid of that size.
5. The pronunciations of Alderaan/Alderan, Leia/Leah, and Jahbba, Jabba may vary according to dialect, but Han's name is a special case. Seems that everyone pronounces it to rhyme with "dawn" (including Han himself), except when Lando's around. Then, everyone pronounces it to rhyme with "man.' By Return of the Jedi, everyone reverts to the "dawn" usage again, except for Lando.
6. In my older video version, you can see Luke's head reappear after he jumps down to the trampoline, following Vader. In the THX version, the last couple seconds are cut. (Note from Phil: Fixed a nit, did they?)
Bob Canada: Are Hoth and Bespin in the same solar system? Han & Co. take off from Hoth. They're chased for a while. They try to jump to hyperspace, but fail. They fly into an asteroid field in an attempt to lose the Imperial ships. They hide inside an asteroid for a while. Then they attach themselves to a Star Destroyer. They detach and proceed. At no time during any of these events does the hyperdrive engage. Han then tells Leia, "Bespin is pretty far, but I think we can make it." Hmmm... Let's hope its pretty CLOSE, or they've got a long flight ahead of them. Maybe the Star Destroyer they were attached to was travelling in a really wide search pattern, and deposited them fairly near Bespin...Or maybe that asteroid they hid in had some hidden means of propulsion (I won't mention my theory on giant space worm...uh, exhaust) that ferried them closer to Bespin.
Continuing the severed arm motif, Like slices off the Wampa's arm and I'm pretty sure I saw blood again.
Bad hardware design-Darth Vader sits in his plushly furnished little isolation bubble, complete with a viewscreen that he can't see unless the top of the bubble raises all the way up.
When the Star Destroyer's taking potshots in the asteroid field, did anyone else think of the video game "Asteroids?"
Brian Lombard: Finally, Yoda sure is confusing in ESB. He discourages Luke from leaving Dagobah to go rescue Han and Leia from death. As Luke flies off, Obi-Wan says, "That boy was our last hope", to which Yoda replies "No, there is another". As we will learn, the other is Leia. Yet Yoda was just willing to sacrifice her for Luke. If Luke stays behind, the other might die!
Jason Liu: (Note from Phil: Jason did say that all these came from memory and I might need to verify them but I've had a busy week!)
How can there be an atmosphere inside the cave/worm when it opens up into outer space?
When Luke destroys the walker, he uses a grappling device to climb up to its underbelly. He proceeds to chop a hole and throw in a thermal detonator. Then he releases the hook. How does he fall without injuring himself? And then, he is _really_ lucky that the walker didn't just collapse right on top of him!
In the final battle between Luke and Vader, Darth Vader blows open a window and Luke is sucked out. Amazingly, Luke manages to hold on to his lightsaber. (Note from Phil: He's just that good!)
When Luke runs off to Cloud City, Ben says, "That boy is our last hope." Yoda says, "No, there is another." Huh? Shouldn't Ben know that? He helped separate and hide Luke and Leia in the first place. He should know about Leia.
Reid Joiner of Arkadelphia, AR: Listen to General Veers after he's ordered to prepare for ground assault. He sounds like he's speaking through a comm link, but he's right there!!!
Sometime while the Falcon escapes from Bespin, the TIEs laser blasts turn from their normal green to a just-as-ineffective light bluish-white.
Donald Carlson of Birmingham, AL: According to the Boxed Laserdisc SW Trilogy, look carefully at the asteroid chase scene. Some of the asteroids were, in reality, potatoes!
Eric Lee Cline: A non-nit: When Luke fell from the AT-AT, he used the Force to cushion his impact(from Shadows of the Empire).
When Artoo sprays fire repellent at the stormtroopers, it clearly comes from two places, not just the nozzel on his "chest."
When they are boarding the Falcon in Cloud City, Chewbacca bangs Threepio's head on the entrance, knocking one of the little lights out and moving it(the homing device from part IV, maybe?).
After cutting Lukes hand off, Vader talks to Luke. His helmet is visibly swaying in the wind.
Speaking of wind, Luke's hair is blowing sideways, not up or down as it probably should in a tube like that.
When Luke falls onto the weather vane, is that his hand falling out? According to the novels, Vader recovered it!
Why is Leia flying the Falcon? Lando and Chewie are both more qualified!
A good one I read on rec.arts.sf.starwars.misc and verified: When Vader has the bounty hunters assembled, two crew members look at Bossk, the Trandoshan bounty hunter(the green lizard man). He looks down at them and says(I am not kidding), "Let's look for Alf." Of course, Alf wasn't around in 1980, but...
Ryan Grove of Somerville, TX: Has anyone ever noticed that in the Imperial Walker battle on Hoth, once the Rebels manage to trip a walker, they destroy it by FIRING A FEW BLASTER SHOTS AT IT? Didn't they say that blasters are ineffective against the walkers' armor? If so, then how does tripping the walkers make their armor weaker (especially on the top portion, where the Rebels are shooting)?
And how did the Rebels manage to shrink the size of their forces so incredibly? In the award ceremony at the end of 'A New Hope', there are well over 1000 pilots/officers lined up at attention when Luke and Han come walking up to receive their medals. Where are all these people in ESB? What ships are they flying?
On that note, why do the Rebels use transports to evacuate Hoth? Granted, they may want to salvage some equipment, but are they really carrying around enough people that can't fly their own fighters to need a bunch of big, slow, hefty transports?
Furthermore, what happened to all the people still on Hoth when the last transport was cleared? What about those poor people that were out trying to blast AT-AT Walkers in their speeders and crashed? Were they just left behind to freeze?
Dave Tayman: In the Rebel Base at hoth, Han asks a deck officer top see if Luke came in through the south enterance. Right before he comes back, in the scene with the dead Tauntaun (the furry snowkangaroo-like thingy), you see a rebel trip in the background. Check it out! It's hilarious!
Shane Tourtellotte, Rutherford, NJ: On Donald Carlson noting the potato in the asteroid field: According to another Website, there's also a shoe floating around out there! Examine the tape just as the Millennium Falcon dives below one big asteroid toward the surface of the BIG one. One of the smaller rocks tumbling about is supposed to be that shoe. I've only seen the image they put on the site, but it looks right.
Joseph Pintar: The force was obviously with Luke and Han when they were stuck in the harsh Hoth night. I guess those Tauntauns are really warm inside. Personally, I'd rather freeze to death.
The reliability of See Threepio comes into seious question in this movie. When the imperial code being sent out by the probe droid is detected, Threepio says "...this signal is not used by the alliance, IT COULD BE AN IMPERIAL CODE" (emphasis mine). IT COULD BE!!! As in you don't know, Threepio. Threepio is fluent in 6 million forms of communication and he isn't sure about this one imperial code. What good is he if he doesn't know Imperial codes? Wouldn't that be his primary function?
Staying on the code, one of the rebels says the signal is very weak. Yet it manages to make it to Darth Vader's Star Destroyer. I guess it could be scrambled.
Why does Luke escape Hoth completely unmolested? He's Vader's primary target.
Vader and his troops enter the rebel base before the shield generator is destroyed (I judge this observation by the communication "Imperial troops have entered the base" clearly happens before the shield is destroyed"). I have three theories on this occurrence: 1. Vader used the force to let him through the shield. 2. The shield was weakening and Vader found a way in. 3. The shield only protected against bombardment from space.
How did the empire land those walkers on the planet(I've always wanted to know this)?
I know Yoda is testing Luke, but does a Jedi Master stike you as a person who says "mine, mine, mine?"
The afterlife has done wonder for Ben's hair. It's much nicer looking than the last movie.
I know the hyperdrive was damaged the first time and sabotaged the third time, but what about the second time? The movie never explains.
Why didn't the Star Destroyer detect the Millenium Falcon attached to it?
How did they know that Han was going to Bespin and then beat him there?
Luke is simply pathetic against Boba Fett and the stormtroopers. HE DOESN"T EVEN GET ONE SHOT OFF!!! Even a partially trained Jedi could whip these guys.
After Boba Fett's ship leaves, stormtroopers start firing. R2D2 is going around in circles right in the line of fire. Does this make sense?
Why would the Cloud City computer know the hyperdrive on the Millenium Falcon was sabotaged?
These residents of Bespin are fast. Lando tells the people to leave over the loud speaker and less than a minute later, people are scrambling to leave! That's really fast!
The Millenium flies awfully close to the star destroyer for it not to be in tractor beam range.
Imperial sabetours need a refresher course. Wouldn't it be better to simply destroy the hyperdrive on the Millenium Falcon?
Chris Springob: How about those tauntauns? Are they indiginous to Hoth or not? It would seem unlikely that the Rebels had a bunch of them that they pull out in case they ever go to an "ice planet". So I'll assume they're from Hoth itself. If that's the case, then why can't they survive the cold weather on their own planet? (Han's tauntaun died of the cold.) (Note from Phil: Maybe they normally seek shelter?)
Christopher Pope pointed out that the asteroid that the MF flies into looks way too small to be exerting that kind of gravity. On a similar note, isn't it convenient that the acceleration of gravity happenned to be pushing them straight down into the ground, and not off on an angle? Also, how does this creature get enough food to survive? It isn't every day a ship is going to fly into your mouth. And it sure is lucky for Han et al. that the creature didn't start digesting them when they were inside.
Now for an observation that you may not classify as a nit: Towards the end of the movie, when Chewbacca and Lando are about to leave in the Millenium Falcon to rescue Han, they're talking over the MF's intercom to Luke and Leia. Listen to Chewbacca's farewell. It sounds as if he's saying "Goodbye Princess".
Eric Lee Cline: Chris Springob asks if taun-tauns are indigenous to Hoth. According to every published reference, they are. They herbivorous reptilians that survive by sleeping close together for the protection of massed body heat. They eat plant matter that grows just under the snow and in grottos on Hoth. They are, of course, the primary prey of the wampa.
Jeremy Jones of Oakdale, MN: In the Brash Reflections for "The Empire Strikes Back," someone wondered why the rebels didn't use X-wings against the Imperial Walkers. As I recall, the rebels had difficulty adapting the snow speeders to the cold. That's why Han
had to look for Luke on a Tauntaun. Perhaps the X-wings hadn't been adapted.
On the other hand, I doubt Hoth is colder than outer space. If the X-wings
can withstand the cold of outer space, they should be alright on Hoth (In
fact, we see them taking off from Hoth with no trouble). I guess I would
chalk this up to some unknown difference that makes X-wings impractical for
combat in a planetary environment, or at least less effective than speeders.
The real question is--if the rebels can build ships to withstand the cold of
outer space, why would they have trouble adapting the speeders to the cold of
Hoth? (Note from Phil: Must be a wet cold as opposed to a dry cold.)
If you would like to add some comments,
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Copyright 1996 by Phil Farrand. All Rights Reserved.