When I originally saw “The Empire Strikes Back”, I didn’t like it. I was one of those kids who loved
the original “Star Wars”, and who was very excited to see this movie, but SPOILER ALERT the Empire struck back in this movie, in many particularly nasty ways. Over time, though, my feelings on the movie changed, to the point where I really liked it. I am now one of those folks who can make a decent argument that it is better then the original.
I had not seen it in a few years, and the other night I was in a particularly Empire state of mind (I think it had to do with the Hoth like conditions of winter. One empathizes). Strangely, though, I feel asleep just as it started, and only waking up when SPOILER ALERT Luke screams when he finds out Vader is his father.
Something about sleeping through it caused some sort of osmosis, where I discovered there were problems with the movie. I couldn’t place them at first but I knew they were there. I re-watched (and stayed awake), and I found several. Problems with the plot and character actions that were just baffling were becoming apparent, even though I have seen the movie many, many times before. These were not mistakes with the technology and not having the foresight to see how it could be used (that would make it a longer list). Instead, I saw nine errors in the plot and story line which up this point I have completely missed. This will be your last SPOILER ALERT. If you haven’t seen the movie, stop reading this, watch the movie, then come back.
1. Han Solo letting his vig ride: In the first Star Wars movie, after the Death Star was destroyed, and Han Solo had all his money, why didn’t he pay of Jabba the Hutt? I raised this question a few months ago, and I still don’t have a good answer. He had the money from his reward, he had the time, and obviously, he was worried about being in Jabba's debt, so why did he wait all this time? If he payed him off, he wouldn’t have had to leave during the Imperial invasion of Hoth.
2. Attacking the AT-ATs head-on - worst idea ever: When the Rebel Alliance’s Rogue Fighters were attacking the AT-ATs, why did they go straight at them? The AT-ATs only had guns up front, that could only rotate about 30 degrees either way. All the Rebel pilots had to do was come at them from the sides, or behind, no problem, and taken them down with no danger of being shot. Even if the AT-AT’s turned to shoot them, that would have taken them off target from attacking the Rebel Base, allowing more transports to escape, which was the whole point.
3. Vader’s Leadership style leaves much to be desired: The first of many “changes” Vader makes of his senior officers, he uses the Force to strangle Admiral Ozzel for coming out of light speed too close to the Hoth system, alerting the Rebels to their presence. Guess what? Even if he didn’t come out too close, the Rebels would have still seen then, and put up their energy shield, necessitating the ground attack. If anything, by coming in closer, he gives the Rebels less time to prepare. Admiral Ozzel has a good case to bring up in his next performance review (if he wasn’t dead).
4. Luke Skywalker is a cold hearted bastard: While attacking the AT-AT’s, Zack, Skywalker’s rear gunner, gets shot and killed. This doesn’t seem to bother Luke in the least bit, even to the point of ignoring the body when he crashes and has to abandon the fighter. Zack idolized Luke, but aside from a perfunctory calling of his name, Luke doesn’t seem to care that this poor kid’s corpse is riding shotgun. Maybe in a combat situation, you block things like this out (I wouldn’t know), and while it isn’t a major issue, the thought of flying around with a dead body right behind me gives me the willies.
5. Evacuation of Echo Base: This whole scene is just weird, and requires some setup. The problem starts when Han goes in the command center to get Leia to her transport. The call comes in that “Imperial troops have entered the base”, then Leia instructs the crew to give the evacuation code and “get to your transports!” She leaves with Han towards the front of the screen (side note, I think the worst job in the Rebel Alliance is being the poor saps who drew Command Center duty this day.
Your job is to help everyone else leave and wait for the Stormtroopers to arrive, and then try to escape. Honestly. I’ve had some bad jobs in my day, but nothing compares to this). On the way out, their route is blocked, so Solo tells the transport to go, and that he will get her out on the Millennium Falcon and they backtrack to the Command Center. So far, so good.
Darth and the Stormtroopers burst in and take control of the Command Center. Now, all the rebels working in the Command Center are gone, and we have to assume they went another way to get to their transports since they didn’t run into Han, Leia or C-3PO. Presumably, this is where the Millennium Falcon is docked, too. However, Han and Co. can’t get there now; Darth is waiting in the Command Center. Somehow, they get past (or through him) to the ship and takeoff. It is a really bad editing job, that makes it more confusing and inaccurate then it needs to be.
6. Blow up the Meteorites, but bring them back alive: When the Millennium Falcon hides out in a meteorite, Vader commands them to find the ship, but notes several times, “I want them alive”. After a cut away scene with Luke, we see Imperial Star destroyers blowing up asteroids, while the TIE-Fighters are doing the saturation bombing to flush them out. Somehow the TIE fighters got the message, but the Imperial Destroyer Captains did not (or, possibly, someone is trying to sabotage one of their commanders, and move up the chain of command. It wouldn’t be the first time you got promoted because Vader personally “removed” them).
7. Welcome to Cloud City! Please wipe your feet: On Degobah, Luke and R2-D2 are covered in filth. It’s a messy, swampy planet, with no indoor plumbing or clean water for showering. He is training, in the mud and slime; it’s a messy place. They he has the vision, and has to fly to Cloud City, where, lo and behold, he has clean clothes (until he fights Vader, and they get dirty, again). It’s a minor consistency error, but this one always bugs me when this is done in movies.
8. Vader loves Chewy: As they are putting Han in the carbonate freezer, Chewbacca starts to freak out. Boba Fett takes aim and is ready to drop him, but for some, inexplicable reason Vader grabs his gun, and pushes it down, so he doesn’t shoot. This makes no sense whatsoever. Princess Leia even gives Vader a look, like she can’t believe he saved Chewy’s life. You really need to watch this bit again; it is that odd.
9. Worst Rescue Ever: In a episode of the “Big Bang Theory”, Amy Farrah Fowler pointed out how the movie “Raiders of the Lost Arc” would have had the same ending without Indian Jones being in it. It was kind of shocking, but it is true. The movie would have ended the same way without him; the arc would have been uncovered, then lost (this time on an uninhabited Greek Island). The same could be said for Luke’s attempted “rescue”. Had Luke not gone to Cloud City, Han would still be in carbonate with Boba Fett, Lando would have busted the Princess, Chewy and C-3P0 out, and Vader would still be alive. Actually, there is one difference had he not gone: Luke would still have his right hand.
That is my list; please fire back with corrections, questions or comments.
the original “Star Wars”, and who was very excited to see this movie, but SPOILER ALERT the Empire struck back in this movie, in many particularly nasty ways. Over time, though, my feelings on the movie changed, to the point where I really liked it. I am now one of those folks who can make a decent argument that it is better then the original.
I had not seen it in a few years, and the other night I was in a particularly Empire state of mind (I think it had to do with the Hoth like conditions of winter. One empathizes). Strangely, though, I feel asleep just as it started, and only waking up when SPOILER ALERT Luke screams when he finds out Vader is his father.
Something about sleeping through it caused some sort of osmosis, where I discovered there were problems with the movie. I couldn’t place them at first but I knew they were there. I re-watched (and stayed awake), and I found several. Problems with the plot and character actions that were just baffling were becoming apparent, even though I have seen the movie many, many times before. These were not mistakes with the technology and not having the foresight to see how it could be used (that would make it a longer list). Instead, I saw nine errors in the plot and story line which up this point I have completely missed. This will be your last SPOILER ALERT. If you haven’t seen the movie, stop reading this, watch the movie, then come back.
1. Han Solo letting his vig ride: In the first Star Wars movie, after the Death Star was destroyed, and Han Solo had all his money, why didn’t he pay of Jabba the Hutt? I raised this question a few months ago, and I still don’t have a good answer. He had the money from his reward, he had the time, and obviously, he was worried about being in Jabba's debt, so why did he wait all this time? If he payed him off, he wouldn’t have had to leave during the Imperial invasion of Hoth.
2. Attacking the AT-ATs head-on - worst idea ever: When the Rebel Alliance’s Rogue Fighters were attacking the AT-ATs, why did they go straight at them? The AT-ATs only had guns up front, that could only rotate about 30 degrees either way. All the Rebel pilots had to do was come at them from the sides, or behind, no problem, and taken them down with no danger of being shot. Even if the AT-AT’s turned to shoot them, that would have taken them off target from attacking the Rebel Base, allowing more transports to escape, which was the whole point.
3. Vader’s Leadership style leaves much to be desired: The first of many “changes” Vader makes of his senior officers, he uses the Force to strangle Admiral Ozzel for coming out of light speed too close to the Hoth system, alerting the Rebels to their presence. Guess what? Even if he didn’t come out too close, the Rebels would have still seen then, and put up their energy shield, necessitating the ground attack. If anything, by coming in closer, he gives the Rebels less time to prepare. Admiral Ozzel has a good case to bring up in his next performance review (if he wasn’t dead).4. Luke Skywalker is a cold hearted bastard: While attacking the AT-AT’s, Zack, Skywalker’s rear gunner, gets shot and killed. This doesn’t seem to bother Luke in the least bit, even to the point of ignoring the body when he crashes and has to abandon the fighter. Zack idolized Luke, but aside from a perfunctory calling of his name, Luke doesn’t seem to care that this poor kid’s corpse is riding shotgun. Maybe in a combat situation, you block things like this out (I wouldn’t know), and while it isn’t a major issue, the thought of flying around with a dead body right behind me gives me the willies.
5. Evacuation of Echo Base: This whole scene is just weird, and requires some setup. The problem starts when Han goes in the command center to get Leia to her transport. The call comes in that “Imperial troops have entered the base”, then Leia instructs the crew to give the evacuation code and “get to your transports!” She leaves with Han towards the front of the screen (side note, I think the worst job in the Rebel Alliance is being the poor saps who drew Command Center duty this day.
Your job is to help everyone else leave and wait for the Stormtroopers to arrive, and then try to escape. Honestly. I’ve had some bad jobs in my day, but nothing compares to this). On the way out, their route is blocked, so Solo tells the transport to go, and that he will get her out on the Millennium Falcon and they backtrack to the Command Center. So far, so good.
6. Blow up the Meteorites, but bring them back alive: When the Millennium Falcon hides out in a meteorite, Vader commands them to find the ship, but notes several times, “I want them alive”. After a cut away scene with Luke, we see Imperial Star destroyers blowing up asteroids, while the TIE-Fighters are doing the saturation bombing to flush them out. Somehow the TIE fighters got the message, but the Imperial Destroyer Captains did not (or, possibly, someone is trying to sabotage one of their commanders, and move up the chain of command. It wouldn’t be the first time you got promoted because Vader personally “removed” them).
7. Welcome to Cloud City! Please wipe your feet: On Degobah, Luke and R2-D2 are covered in filth. It’s a messy, swampy planet, with no indoor plumbing or clean water for showering. He is training, in the mud and slime; it’s a messy place. They he has the vision, and has to fly to Cloud City, where, lo and behold, he has clean clothes (until he fights Vader, and they get dirty, again). It’s a minor consistency error, but this one always bugs me when this is done in movies.
8. Vader loves Chewy: As they are putting Han in the carbonate freezer, Chewbacca starts to freak out. Boba Fett takes aim and is ready to drop him, but for some, inexplicable reason Vader grabs his gun, and pushes it down, so he doesn’t shoot. This makes no sense whatsoever. Princess Leia even gives Vader a look, like she can’t believe he saved Chewy’s life. You really need to watch this bit again; it is that odd.9. Worst Rescue Ever: In a episode of the “Big Bang Theory”, Amy Farrah Fowler pointed out how the movie “Raiders of the Lost Arc” would have had the same ending without Indian Jones being in it. It was kind of shocking, but it is true. The movie would have ended the same way without him; the arc would have been uncovered, then lost (this time on an uninhabited Greek Island). The same could be said for Luke’s attempted “rescue”. Had Luke not gone to Cloud City, Han would still be in carbonate with Boba Fett, Lando would have busted the Princess, Chewy and C-3P0 out, and Vader would still be alive. Actually, there is one difference had he not gone: Luke would still have his right hand. That is my list; please fire back with corrections, questions or comments.
