I think it’s fair to say that while a lot of the changes made for the special edition re-releases of the original “Star Wars” trilogy were unwanted, “Empire Strikes Back” got the best treatment. You could even argue that some of the changes were actually good.

The rebels are now on the backfoot when the Galactic Empire seemingly stronger than ever. After narrowly escaping an attack on the rebel base in Hoth, our heroes split up. Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill “The Guyver”) heads to Dagobah to find the elusive Yoda to complete his jedi training. Meanwhile, Han Solo (Harrison Ford “Air Force One”) and Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher “Drop Dead Fred”) go to Cloud City to seek refuge but a bounty hunter is on their tail. Luke will be put to the ultimate test as he must choose between his training and his friends’ lives.

Like the original film, the characters and performance are still terrific. Luke, Han, Darth Vader (voiced by James Earl Jones “The Lion King”), Yoda, Lando Calrissian (Billy Dee Williams “Batman”) and the rest are as great as ever. Very little was actually changed in this one in terms of the characters. There are not lots of new C.G.I. creatures are anything like that. We get some more footage of the wampa on Hoth, which is good. One minor issue, Luke now screams when he falls but they use the Emperor’s scream from “Return of the Jedi” and it just sounds weird.

Many people debate whether or not “Empire Strikes Back” is the best of the original “Star Wars” trilogy but what is certainly true is that it got the best special edition. Some of the positive changes here include the new sequence that shows more of Cloud City. While I would always recommend looking for the original versions, there is not much that is wrong with this one.