The Best of the Series

Rating: 10/10 (13 March 2001)

Stuck right in the middle of the revolutionary opening chapter, "A New Hope" and the action-packed finale "Return of the Jedi" came this much darker, more involving tale. "The Empire Strikes Back" takes a slower and more thoughtful approach as young Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) is told by his former mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi to travel to the Dagoba system, in the far reaches of the galaxy, to find Kenobi's own Jedi master, Yoda.

At the same time as he is receiving this information, the Imperial Army is bearing down upon the ice planet of Hoth, where the Rebel Alliance have set up base. Leia (Carrie Fisher)and the other leaders of the Alliance order an immediate evacuation but they are not quick enough and a huge battle breaks out, plunging the base into chaos. Amidst all this confusion, Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his reliable co-pilot Chewbacca are trying to make their own bid for freedom and plan to leave the Alliance behind to make their fortune elsewhere. As chaos sets in on the base, Leia and droid C-3PO end up on board Solo's Millennium Falcon and they make their bid for freedom unsure of their destination.
Meanwhile, Luke and R2-D2 have crash-landed on Dagoba and find it to be a dank, unpleasant swamp crawling with all manner of insects and strange wildlife. Luke finds Yoda eventually, but he is not what he expected at all. All the same he is willing to be taught and Yoda begins to train him in the ways of the Force so that he too may become a Jedi.

Meanwhile, on the run from Darth Vader and the Imperial Army, Solo decides to visit an old friend of his, Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams) who in fact, lost the Millennium Falcon to Solo on a bet some years earlier. However, despite the initial welcome, disaster follows and Luke is forced to halt his training halfway through to try and resolve the situation...
Very dark in tone and aimed less at the children than the other episodes, "The Empire Strikes Back" ranks as one of the finest science-fiction films ever made, building on the outstanding special effects of "A New Hope" and also vastly improving the plot. The acting, of course, is top notch and who could ever forget that mind-blowing ending?
Lucas may not have been in the director's chair for this one but it doesn't mean the film is any less worthy than the original, it surpasses it in terms of story, character development and enjoyment. Perhaps the most critically acclaimed episode, "The Empire Strikes Back" is certainly the most influential and significant piece of the puzzle. Fantastic.