Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Special Edition) [VHS]

Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Special Edition) [VHS]
by Irvin Kershner

Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Special Edition) [VHS]

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Category: VHS Video
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Product details

Actor: Anthony Daniels, Billy Dee Williams, Carrie Fisher, Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill
Director: Irvin Kershner
Producer: Gary Kurtz
Producer: George Lucas
Writer: George Lucas
Producer: Jim Bloom
Producer: Rick McCallum
Writer: Lawrence Kasdan
Writer: Leigh Brackett
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Original recording reissued, Original recording remastered, Special Edition, THX
Running Time: 124 minutes
Release Date: 1997-08-26
Audience Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Publisher: 20th Century Fox
Studio: 20th Century Fox

VHS Movie Reviews of Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Special Edition) [VHS]

Movie Review: best of three..
Summary: 5 Stars

All the reviews I've read are so complex. It comes down to this is the best of the three. Best plot. Darkest. Acting superb. Case closed..

Movie Review: Darth Vader is Luke's Father
Summary: 5 Stars

Although it lacks the easily identifiable yearning for adventure that made Star Wars, Episode IV - A New Hope such a success, The Empire Strikes Back tackles the hard work of "what happens after we win the big battle." The Empire isn't defeated by a long shot, and this story picks up with the Rebellion on the ropes, hiding out and trying to regroup after their surprising victory at the Death Star.

Many scholars have pointed to Star Wars as a cinematic interpretation of Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces (Bollingen Series). Well, it is in The Empire Strikes Back that this becomes the most pointed and effective. Han Solo romances Princess Leia as he reluctantly becomes the noble hero that he has been mocking his whole life. Luke Skywalker LITERALLY journey's to an isolated cave to find his true calling, and then LITERALLY has to confront his father. Couple these heroic cycles with fantastic action sequences, great new characters and some of the most compelling special effects ever realized in cinema, and you have a film that reaches the greatest heights that the Star Wars series would reach. Best of all, it ends on a downbeat cliffhanger, bringing it all back to the old-fashioned Hollywood serials of old.

"Will the intrepid heroes be reunited? Will the dastardly Darth Vader succeed in dominating the galaxy? Will C-3P0 ever get any respect? Star Wars will return in 3 years with: The Return of the Jedi!"

Oh, and best of all, of all the Star Wars movies this one suffers least from the "Special Edition" treatment. The Wampa scene is a little more explicit, lacking the great subtlety of not showing the monster, and the pacing is broken up near the end with a pointless scene of Vader flying in a shuttlecraft. But otherwise even George Lucas has respected this film and kept the changes light, and mostly just cleaning up the already stellar effects work.

Movie Review: One of The Few Sequels To Be An Equal To The Original
Summary: 5 Stars

The wrath of the Empire is unleashed upon the Rebel Alliance! Definatley one of the best written stories out of the franchise (they didn't get clunky until episodes 1 and 2), this is more of an emotional story for the characters (though don't worry, there's plenty of action for those of you with short attention spans without an explosion happening every five seconds). The three main leads continue with excellent performances, especially Hamill. Luke's character changes throughout the course of the film. He's impatient with Yoda and doesn't yet understand how to control the Force. His lack of patience costs him when he goes up against Darth Vader who delivers one of the most classic mis-quoted lines in cinema history! New characters introduced are Yoda, who is very comical when he's first introduced but turns deadly serious when it comes to training Luke as a Jedi. And we also get a glimpse at the Emperor, who will get a drastic make over when he makes a full appearance in the following film. The special effects are top notch, with some exciting battles, including; the Battle of Hoth, the pursuit of the Millenium Falcon into an asteroid field and the exciting duel between Vader and Luke. Definately not one to be missed in the series!

Movie Review: STAR WARS V?! WOW!
Summary: 5 Stars

I had no idea this movie existed! I saw Star Wars 1, 2, and 3 in the theaters, and stumbled upon Star Wars 4 by accident on the cable on Father's Day! That one was great too! I was overjoyed to find out that this 5th one was made as well! I accidentally found this DVD just sitting in the bargain spindle at my 7/11 like it had been there for years! Why the last two movies weren't released in theaters I'll never understand. They really advertised the heck out of the first three.

Anyway, this movie TOTALLY rocks! It's like they took the Star Wars movies and said, "Dude, what would make Star Wars better?" I'll tell you what: SNOW! There's TONS of it in the beginning, complete with...you guessed it...a guest appearance by the Abomidable Snowman! That guy makes EVERYTHING better, just watch Loony Tunes, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, or Powder if you don't believe me!

Anyway, real quick for those of you, like me, who didn't see the new 4th movie let alone this one, it's like TNG for Star Wars fanatics... or better yet, Saved by the Bell: The New Class! Sure the evil umperor is there and Anakin is back in his new goth outfit, but the babies from the third movie are all grown up and it pretty much follows them and their friends from here on out. This took a little getting used to.

Once you get acquainted with the new characters in 4 though, 5 is much awesomer! Like I said, the snow, but also I really like this new character Han Solo. He's a pilot, he's funny, smooth with the chicks, good with a gun, and kinda looks like a young Harrison Ford. The only down side of the movie is when we have to follow Anakin's bratty son Luke to a swampy planet where he needs to learn to do the force better. He is taught by none other than blast-from-the-past Yoda. I'd have been more stoked about seeing yoda and all except that since the third movie, he hasn't aged too well. He's looking kind of crotchety and doesn't use his wicked force skills too much. He must have arthritis. You can tell the makers of the movie totally try to cut around it.

All in all though, the movie's great 'cause there's lots of action! Han Solo meets up with an old friend of his, Lionel Ritchie, who betrays him to Darth "Anakin" Vader. Luke trys to rescue him, loses his hand in the process and is pissed to find that Darth Vader is his Dad. That part of the movie was also kind of over-milked, considering we as an audience already know Darth's his father from Star Wars 3! Yea! We know! Move it along! Yeesh! Still, the snow TOTALLY makes up for it, which is why I give this movie the highest marks. I hope they make another one.

Movie Review: Theatrical version included..! HAH!
Summary: 1 Stars

I grew up watching Star Wars. These are quite probably my favorite films of all time...which is why it simply kills me to see things like added footage with the "new" Emperor or voice over dubs with the "new" Boba Fett voice. Don't get me wrong, the restoration that has been done to the film is nothing short of incredible. It looks amazing on my 42" flat panel TV. But that's not what the one star is for.

Being a Star Wars fan, I purchased the special edition trilogy on DVD the day it was released...so I already have all of those as I'm sure almost every other Star Wars fan in existence does. The ONLY reason to buy this disc is to get the original theatrical version on DVD. You can imagine my shock and despair when I popped the second disc in to view the theatrical after having seen how beautiful the special edition looked on my TV. The picture literally filled less than 1/3 of the screen. The colors were muted and washed out. The audio not much better. This is nothing short of a tragedy and a slap in the face to the VAST number of fans that want nothing more than a restored copy of the original films without any added footage or special effects. Considering about 95% of the special edition literally is nothing more than the original, it's inexcusable to advertise this release as having the original theatrical version and simply throw a cheap laserdisc transfer on without even taking the time to make it anamorphic widescreen.

So, end story is this. If you were planning on buying this because you wanted to watch the original theatrical version, prepare yourself for disappointment. Hopefully once Lucas passes on, the next person to run Lucasfilm realizes the error of their ways and gives all the fans what they want.

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Summary of Star Wars, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (Special Edition) [VHS]

The middle film in George Lucas's enormously popular Star Wars science fiction trilogy is a darker, more somber entry, considered by many fans as the best in the series. Gone is the jaunty swashbuckling of the first film; the rebellion led by Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) suffers before the superior forces of the Empire, young hero Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) faces his first defeats as he attempts to harness the Force under the tutelage of Jedi master Yoda (voiced by Frank Oz), and cocky Han Solo (Harrison Ford) is betrayed by former ally Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams). In the tradition of the great serials, this film is left with a hefty cliffhanger. The leap in special effects technology in the three years since Star Wars results in an amazing array of effects, including a breathtaking chase through an asteroid field and a dazzling, utopian Cloud City, where Luke faces the black-clad villain Darth Vader (David Prowse, voice of James Earl Jones) in a futuristic sword fight and learns the secret of his Jedi father. Veteran director Irvin Kershner (The Eyes of Laura Mars, Never Say Never Again) took the directorial reins from creator and producer Lucas and invested the light-speed adventure with deeper characters and a more emphatic sense of danger. The special edition expands Luke's encounter with the Abominable Snowman-esque wampa and establishes the creature as a tangibly more terrifying beast, in addition to refining many of the existing effects. The trilogy is concluded in The Return of the Jedi. --Sean Axmaker

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