An interesting , 26-minute vintage documentary on The Empire Strikes Back can currently be viewed in its entirety online! Apparently, this was an independent documentary made by French journalist Michael Parbot sometime in 1979/1980. Most of the documentary appears to have been filmed during production of the film, and as a result, paints a very different picture of the Star Wars universe than we’re perhaps used to! Click below to watch the whole documentary plus our list of the major highlights.
- George Lucas does not appear. Is not mentioned.
- Clearly, nobody knows Luke and Leia are brother and sister.
- Mark Hamill doing lightsaber practice makes him look like a badass (Also for some reason, he has a Return of the Jedi era lightsaber hilt?)
- Director Irvin Kershner says many times “It’s not a science fiction Movie” and actively attempted to eliminate science jargon.
- The initial Yoda puppet really, really looks like a Muppet (Also at this point Yoda is only 400 years old.)
- Tauntauns are revealed not to be the alien steeds of Hoth, but instead the result of both small stop-motion models and people in costumes. What?
Star Wars being a work in progress even up to the third movie is nothing new. Ever read the novelization of the first movie? Luke and Leia were definitely heading for the altar in that one.
Stubby the Rocket is the mascot of Tor.com. Nobody told it that it was its own brother-sister until the third movie, either.