Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

Fifth in a series of posts that will offer a review of the newly released Star Wars: The Complete Saga on Blu-ray. I'll be avoiding detailed plot rundowns as I assume that most reading have seen the movies. If you haven't be warned that these reviews may contain spoilers.

Entry 1 can be found here: Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Entry 2 can be found here: Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Entry 3 can be found here: Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Entry 4 can be found here: Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back. I'm not sure that I really have to write anymore. Released in the spring of 1980, many fans consider Empire to be the best of the series. I definitely agree. Not tasked with establishing a universe or wrapping things up Empire is the quintessential Star Wars movie.

The Blu-ray contains the latest Special Edition version of The Empire Strikes Back. This is different than the 1997 theatrical Special Edition yet virtually identical to the 2004 Special Edition DVD release (the sole difference being a quick fix in the Wampa sequence where a puppeteer's arm was visible in one of the new shots). I actually don't mind this Special Edition of the film. Most of the changes are minor and the additions to the Wampa scene seem like they belong.

I wasn't floored with the picture quality. Don't get me wrong, it looks great, again the best this film has looked on home video, but it just didn't look consistent throughout for me.

Like every film in this set the special features provide a glimpse into the creation of the movie. At this point I'd say that the DVD releases of these films provided a much more in-depth look at how much effort goes into making a Star Wars movie. The initial 2004 DVD release of the original trilogy films included the excellent Empire of Dreams: The Story of the Star Wars Trilogy documentary. And while that is not included here we do get some archival TV specials. Overall that gives the original trilogy a boost in terms of extras over the prequels.

Two commentary tracks are included on the main The Empire Strikes Back disc. The first is carried over from the original 2004 DVD release and features George Lucas, Irvin Kershner, Ben Burtt, Dennis Muren, and Carrie Fisher. The second is new for this Blu-ray release and is made up of archival interviews with the cast and crew. Just like the tracks on the previous movies each commentator is identified by an on-screen subtitle. I have yet to listen to any of the new tracks from this release but assume that they will provide a lot of information and possibly make up for the loss of the DVD bonus features.

The remaining special features are found on the 8th and 9th discs in the set. These discs include all of the non-commentary features for the original films. Features to a specific sequence or location are in their own section. For The Empire Strikes Back the locations/sequences are Hoth, Dagobah, Pursued by the Imperial Fleet and Cloud City.

Each sequence/location has the same layout and feature headings: Interviews, Deleted Scenes, The Collection and Concept Art Gallery.

Unlike the previous Interviews I found the ones included here to be pretty interesting. George Lucas at the editing bay in 1979 explaining how he is using animatics to map out the battle scene on Hoth and Dennis Muren and Phil Tippet discussing the use of stop motion for that sequence are 2 highlights well worth the time that it takes to watch them. Each interview runs about 3-5 minutes.

Looking at the Deleted Scenes on Hoth we get: "Han and Leia: Extended Echo Base Argument", "Luke's Recovery", "Luke and Leia: Medical Center", "Deleted Wampa Scenes" and "The Fate of General Veers". On Dagobah we get: "Yoda's Test". Pursued by the Imperial Fleet gives us: "Hiding in the Asteroid" and "Alternate Han and Leia Kiss". And finally Cloud City includes: "Lobot's Capture" and "Leia Tends to Luke".

The most notable scenes here are the "Deleted Wampa Scenes". This series of scenes make up what was to be a subplot that involved a Wampa invasion on the rebel base. Watching the scenes it is easy to see why they were removed. The on-set effects here just don't look good and it seems no amount of editorial magic could fix it. These are great sequences to finally see but they are not missed in the final cut of the film.

The Collection is made up of key costumes, characters and spacecraft. Each includes a 3D fly around feature that really gives the opportunity to check out the detail. Select pieces also include video commentary that go into the creative process behind their creation. Hands down this has been the highlight of the set for me. A special note for those prone to avoiding features like this: take the time to look around and you will be rewarded with the full animated sequence from The Star Wars Holiday Special featuring Bobba Fett's fist screen appearance.

Finally Concept Art Gallery provides pre-production artwork for select characters, costumes and spacecraft. Concept art is always interesting in that many times it greatly differs from what eventually ended up on screen.

As previously mentioned you can access all of the special features for each sequence/location separately or the "Play All" feature will lump all of the interviews, deleted scenes, etc. from all of the original trilogy films together for a seamless viewing experience.

Disc 9 contains documentaries and spoofs related to the original trilogy and we get two additional The Empire Strikes Back features: "The Empire Strikes Back: SPFX" and "A Conversation with the Masters: The Empire Strikes Back 30 Years Later".

"The Empire Strikes Back: SPFX" is a TV special from 1980. It runs 48 minutes. In addition to detailing the special effects creation for Empire the history of special effects in cinema is also covered. It was an interesting piece and another welcome addition.

"A Conversation with the Masters: The Empire Strikes Back 30 Years Later" is from a 2010 sit down with George Lucas, Irwin Kershner, Lawrence Kasdan and John Williams. It runs 25 minutes. Unfortunately the participants are not together and some of the interview pieces were actually used for other parts of the set. It's still a good inclusion but a bit of a letdown.

Join me next time for a look at Star Wars: Episode VI - The Return of the Jedi.