Episode #214

The Empire Strikes Back

(1980)

No, Luke . . . I am your father.

It’s so rare that a sequel outdoes the original. A hundreds times moreso when the original is an instant classic, which is what Star Wars was. But, here lies Empire, the film that built a universe. There would be no Star Wars like there is today without Empire. It took the campiness and rough-around-the-edges thrill of the first film and grew it the hell up. Empire is an astounding achievement in and of itself, to say nothing of the pressure that was thrust upon its shoulders from the success of its predecessor. We dive in to figure out how in the hell they pulled it off.