Search - Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980 & 2004 Versions, 2-Disc Widescreen Edition) on DVD

Gerald C. (LtCooley) from SUGAR VALLEY, GA
Reviewed on 5/15/2010...

One of the Great Classics now, Being a kid when this and Star Wars came out has been great having my kids now watching and loving it.

3 of 3 member(s) found this review helpful.

I am Your Father

Scotman | 05/10/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This has the best sword fight and Story line. The sword fight is so good because it has father and son battling eachother."

Rousing Lucas Space Adventure!

Scotman | Mt. Shasta, CA | 06/07/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"After several years of waiting, I got to see George Lucas' new film, The Empire Strikes Back!

The struggles of the Rebellion versus the Republic is awesome (to use an overused word).

We continue with Luke Skywalker, who, "strong with the Force" is hunted down by the Emperor and Darth Vader.

They feel he is a danger to them, since he will continue the rebellion to a point of empiric destruction. They can't have that!


Planets:

Hoth: Luke getting clouted and bloodied up by the Wampa and then hung up to dry in a cave was interesting. Slicing beastie's arm off with the light saber and then running out into 40 below weather on Hoth was not the smartest thing he's ever done, however. Good thing Han Solo found him.

Degoba: Swampy and hot ugly. However, you go where the power is and this is where we find Yoda and his teaching the hotheaded Luke a thing or two about patience and that there is "no try! Do or do not. There is no try." No truer words....

Asteroids: OK, technically not a planet, but the budding romance between Leah and Solo gets just a wee bit uncomfortable for both of them. The realization they are inside a giant space worm is just a bit more than they can take! From here the famous line: "Never tell me the odds!" Love that!

Bespin: The floating city with on and off again air pressure. Why does the window break and all that air rush in during Vader/Luke battles, yet when they landed the Falcon earlier, all was calm? Minor trifle. Great scenes & cloud formations!

Fight Scenes: The best of course is the saber duel between Darth and Luke; Luke getting his hand sliced off is intense! And Vader's big reveal was the shock of the year in 1980!

Cities: The Rebel Base looked cold and lonely. The floating city however was great, reminded me a lot of the old Buck Rogers episodes with floating cities and all. The special effects here are amazing.

Other great scenes: Lando Calrissian's apparent betrayal and Solo getting frozen in carbonite are other highlights of the film.

John Williams: Rousing music!

Yeah, there's been talk of Lucas "ruining" the film, but frankly the thrills and chills of everyone's favorite space sequel still excites me. Clearly a five star film!

Recommended!
"

"I am altering the deal. Pray I don't alter it any further.

Joker | Michigan | 08/09/2010

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Yes, George Lucas has gotten a lot of flack for altering the original 1980 film with his CGI enhancements and added scenes. My review is of this 2004 altered version of Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.

We all know what a great movie The Empire Strikes Back is. Many people, including myself, feel it's the best movie of the six in the series. I remember seeing it in the theater in May 1980. Another blockbuster Star Wars movie. Yoda. Dagobah. Hoth. Asteroids. Lando. Cloud City. Carbonite. "I am your father". This movie has a little of everything. A strong story, strong acting performances, great special effects. It might be the darkest of all the movies in the series, or maybe Revenge Of The Sith is.

Why alter it? Why alter a classic? A lot of people have freaked over this. Well, I didn't freak because the original unaltered 1980 version is available for sale, though I don't have it. But wait...I'm going to be totally honest now........I heard it's pressed from the old laserdisc version from the 1980s and hasn't been restored. Now THAT I have a problem with. George Lucas needs to restore the original unaltered theatrical releases of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return Of The Jedi and offer them to the public rather than a laserdisc version. Why? It's because the fans who liked those movies when they were originally released in the theater are the fans who made those movies the classics that they are, not to mention the fact that they purchased Star Wars merchandise throughout the late '70s and early '80s, such as trading cards, action figures, and Halloween costumes. Original fans deserve better. They deserve unaltered and restored versions as an option to buy in addition to the 2004 enhanced versions. Another thing - with George Lucas altering these movies by adding CGI effects and additional scenes, he's disrespecting the hard work of all those involved in the making of these original movies. Example: to replace original creatures in the cantina sequence in A New Hope with new CGI creatures is a slap in the face to the people who worked hard to create those creatures. Another example: replacing the original explosions of X-Wings and TIE fighters during the Death Star battle with CGI explosions that supposedly look better and are what George Lucas originally envisioned. Again, it's a slap in the face to the people who worked like dogs on the original movie. The original movie's special effects were groundbreaking, especially for the 1970s, and people to this day are just fine with these still-impressive special effects.

Now that I've gotten all of this off my chest (for nostalgia purposes), I want to focus in on the version of The Empire Strikes Back that I own - the 2004 enhanced version.

I guess I'm one of the few people who likes the altered 2004 version, but I do keep a sense of nostalgia in mind and feel sorry for the people whose hard work was replaced with CGI effects, etc. Some of the enhancements were cool, such as what was done to Cloud City (adding windows in the hallways so you can see outside) and putting Ian McDiarmid's hologram image over the uncredited woman who played the Emperor in the original movie (with Clive Revill providing the voice of the Emperor). In the 2004 version it's Ian McDiarmid's voice and image. This change makes sense, because the Emperor in Episode VI - Return Of The Jedi is Ian McDiarmid, who gets tons of screen time, whereas the uncredited woman in The Empire Strikes Back only appears in the hologram scene. I like the original Emperor in the 1980 version, but George Lucas made a big change back in 1983 by casting Ian McDiarmid and changing the look of the Emperor, so he was already changing things back then. The dialogue was also changed in this hologram scene to correct a mistake that was made in 1980 - the fact that the Emperor and Vader could not possibly know the name of the rebel who destroyed The Death Star, so Luke is referred to as "the young rebel" instead of "Luke Skywalker". There are a lot of other minor changes, such as Temuera Morrison's voice being used for Boba Fett (Morrison played Jango Fett in Episode II), and some alternate takes being used to replace the original takes in some scenes, such as when Han Solo is helping Luke on Hoth and talking about getting the shelter built. Another example of an alternate take that was used to replace the original is when Vader says, "Don't fail me again...admiral". Remember the scene from the original 1980 version where Vader says, "Bring my shuttle"? Well, in this 2004 version there's completely different dialog for that scene. Not only that, but there's an added scene where Vader is exiting his shuttle. There are more minor changes and some bigger ones. Watch to find out.

In my opinion, the two best changes were the Emperor's hologram and what they did with Cloud City. Cloud City is my favorite setting/location in the entire six-movie Star Wars saga.

Overall, I like this altered version as well as the original theatrical version (that I hope some day will be restored). I must say the sound quality suffers a bit in this 2004 altered version, though, probably because of the tinkering around with replacing dialogue, etc.

I highly recommend this 2004 version of The Empire Strikes Back."