Complete Empire Strikes Back Dutch TV Documentary From 1980
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Since J.J. Abrams and his team are getting ready to put together Star Wars: Episode VII, the franchise is looking to return to the big screen in a big way. While 2015 is still a long way off, it’s interesting to look back at the making of another Star Wars film, one considered by many to be the best of them all: The Empire Strikes Back.
A few months ago, we posted a story about a documentary for Dutch TV about the making of The Empire Strikes Back from 1980. The video quality wasn’t the greatest and the TV documentary was incomplete, but thanks to the good people at StarWarsArchives.com, we now have an opportunity to watch it in its entirety with better video quality.
French journalist Michel Parbot made the documentary while on set during the filming of The Empire Strikes Back. It contains mostly behind-the-scenes footage with cast and crew interviews. The footage was then split into two documentaries, one for American TV and the other for the Dutch. The American documentary can be found on the Star Wars Blu-ray set, and the Dutch version was considered lost somewhere in the Lucasfilm archive until recently unearthed.
It’s fascinating watching Irvin Kershner, the director of The Empire Strikes Back, talk about the power of fairy tales and how it relates to the Star Wars movies and science fiction. It’s important to remember that these movies are fueled by imagination and ingenuity.
Considering what we know now about the context of their relationship, it’s a bit creepy to consider that there was a love triangle between Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and Princess Leia. I guess George Lucas didn’t clue in Mark Hamill that Luke and Leia were twin brother and sister.
