The Empire Strike Back is my favorite movie. I haven't seen it in awhile, but I'm currently watching it on the theatrical DVD release. Random thoughts, updated as I come across them:
1. Despite seeing this movie many many times, it's never occurred to me before now that Echo Base is still very new at the start of the movie. Speeders are still being adjusted, perimeter sensors are just being put in place, the Rebel General comments on monitoring problems from meteor activity like it's a new observation. The base is probably less than six months old. This shows the efficiency of the Empire in working and discovering problems.
2. The Tauntauns never looks so much like puppets to me before now. The magic of seeing something on DVD for the first time.
3. Michael Sheard appearance! Star Wars fans know him as the hapless Admiral Ozzel; Doctor Who fans know him from a half dozen appearances over 25 years. My personal favorite role of his is as Mergrave in Castrovalva, though I admit his best role is in Pyramids of Mars. God rest his soul.
4. Another first time observation: the General Veers and Admiral Ozzel have the same uniforms, even tough presumably they come from different branches of the Imperial military (Army vs Navy). In "real life' this probably wouldn't be the case. (The Rebel Alliance also has a uniform rank designation system , but their members are probably required to be a little less specialized.)
4. The AT-AT Walkers are probably miles away from Echo Base when they first appear, but snow lands on R2's head from their footsteps. Those are either some serious heavy machines to create such shockwaves, or it attests to the hasty nature Echo Base was built in.
5. General Veers is probably the most competent Imperial officer we see in the whole trilogy. He's the only one who does his job well and one of the few in ESB not to be killed by Vader . (Admiral Piet is a close second, but is too wishy-washy and is obviously a middle man).
6. I admit here to having a man-crush for Wedge Antilles.
7. Good model work from the early 80's still beats most CGI effects.
8. Considering that Rogue Squadron and just has its ass handed to them by the Imperials, don't it's members seem remarkably carefree as they get ready to depart Hoth? John Williams score gets remarkably upbeat, which leads to a strange mood for the scene.
9. The asteroid belt sequence is one of my all time favorite movie moments ever(see comment # 7) . I watch it 2-5 times in a row whenever it comes up in a viewing. The X-Wing/TIE Fighter games (which I love) owe much to this scene.It only barely comes in second as my all time favorite Star Wars scene. (My favorite is in Return of the Jedi when Luke and Vader fight at the end a Luke almost joins the Dark Side).
10. A little early for this observation, but Hoth and Bespin are close enough that the Millennium Falcon can make it from one to the other under impulse power (or whatever they call it in the the SW universe). Considering that the two planets have to be in two completely different solar systems, that's still pretty fucking fast.
11. One of the key scenes in the trilogy is the Han-Leia scene in the maintenance room on the Falcon. It's a brilliant scene; short to the point, but utterly smoldering, believable and arguably the finest bit of character acting in all six films. This this the key scene that missing from the newer trilogy, and thus why the Anakin-Padme relationship never feels real.
