Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

Audio problem: When Luke is about to leave Dagobah, he says, "But Han and Leia will die if I don't," but the words don't match the movement of his lips. (01:19:45)

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Special edition only: Viewed from inside, the hotel where Leia, Han and Chewbacca are in Cloud City has a flat glass roof, but viewed from outside, it is flat with sloped edges. (01:22:25)

Dr Wilson

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Vader is seen in Cloud City, Lando says, "I had no choice, they arrived right before you did" and two of the stormtroopers on the lowest step are standing about a metre apart. In the following close-up of Lando, they are standing so close together that their ankles are touching. This can only be seen in the widescreen version. (01:25:05)

Continuity mistake: When Han attempts to shoot Vader, Vader deflects the bolts into the walls. As he says, "We would be honored if you would join us," you can see burn marks by the door and on the wall to the left. Two shots later, the burn mark by the door has changed shape and size, and in the last shot of the scene, the other one has disappeared. (01:25:05)

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When the stormtroopers push Leia into the cell in Cloud City, she is wearing a completely different outfit from when she was taken captive. (01:25:20 - 01:28:35)

Visible crew/equipment: When C-3PO is on the conveyor belt, if you look in the reflection in his head you can see the camera crew. (01:26:40)

Continuity mistake: When Lando invites Han, Leia and Chewbacca for refreshments at Cloud City, we see a box containing C-3PO's remains and the head of C-3PO is looking to the right. But when the four of them leave the room, we see a close up of C-3PO's head and it is now looking to the left. (01:27:30)

Continuity mistake: When Han, Leia and Lando are walking down the corridor to the room with 'refreshments' (aka Darth Vader), Han and Lando keep switching sides. (01:27:55)

Continuity mistake: When the Imperial stormtroopers arrive to prevent Leia, Han and Chewbacca from escaping after being captured by Darth Vader, Lobot (Lando's aide) walks down the steps and stands in front of two of the stormtroopers. When we see Lando saying "I'm sorry" in the next shot, Lobot has disappeared. (01:28:40)

Continuity mistake: When Han, Leia and Chewbacca are captured by the Imperials in Cloud City, Lando says, "I'm sorry", to which Han replies, "I'm sorry too." At this point, Chewbacca is looking at Lando, but as the shot changes he is looking at Han, and then looks at Lando a second time.. (01:28:50)

Continuity mistake: When Lando is talking to Han and Leia in the cell in Cloud City, Leia says, "And we're the bait." As the shot ends, her hand is on the nape of Han's neck, but in the next shot, her hand is on his back. (01:29:15)

Audio problem: When Han punches Lando, his hand never makes any contact with Lando's face, and the sound effect is heard after his hand goes past it. (01:29:20)

Continuity mistake: When Han punches Lando, Lando's cape stays on his back, but in the following shots, it's folded over his arm., before he puts it back on again. (01:29:45)

Continuity mistake: After Leia, Han and Chewbacca walk down the stairs in the carbon-freezing chamber, as the shot ends, Han is turning towards a stormtrooper behind him. In the next shot, he is turned in a different direction, and Leia's head is facing another way. The position and existence of some of the people around them changes between the two shots as well. (01:31:10)

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When one of the stormtroopers unties Han Solo before he is put into the carbonite, watch his wardrobe - he has a disappearing / reappearing jacket on. This is fixed to an extent on the DVD - the jacket is now lightened to almost match his shirt, but it's still shiny like leather. (01:32:05)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: It just looks like a jacket because it's a shadow.

That is incorrect. You can see the contrast between the jacket and the shirt, with the white collar of his shirt sticking out of the brown jacket.

Catwalk

The shadow isn't touching all of the shoulders, which gives the illusion that there is a jacket on him, but there isn't.

Continuity mistake: After the carbonite block is pulled out of the carbonite freezer, there's a close-up of Leia leaning towards Chewbacca. In the next shot, she is not leaning on him, and then Chewie pulls her towards him again. (01:33:05)

Continuity mistake: After Luke first sees Boba Fett in Cloud City, he begins to walk away from the corner he is hiding behind. In the next shot, he is closer to the corner than in the previous shot. This has nothing to do with camera angles - notice the distance between him and the wall to his left. Also, his right arm is in a different position. (01:34:55)

Continuity mistake: When Luke is hiding behind a corner in Cloud City right before he signals to R2-D2 to keep silent, his blaster is held in different angles between the shot from the back and the shots facing him. (01:35:00)

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As already noted in another mistake, when Han is about to be frozen in carbonite, his jacket appears and disappears between shots. This jacket can also be seen when Lando says, "You're being put into carbon freeze." This shot was not fixed in the DVD. (01:35:05)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: That is a shadow, giving the illusion it's a jacket.

That is incorrect. You can see the contrast between the jacket and the shirt, with the white collar of his shirt sticking out of the brown jacket.

Catwalk

The shadow isn't touching all of the shoulders, which gives the illusion that there is a jacket on him, but there's not.

Continuity mistake: When Boba Fett shoots at Luke, he fires his blaster four times. The second shot hits the corner Luke is standing by, but in the next shot of Luke, there is no burn mark there. The only burn mark seen is the one from the third shot. (01:35:05)

Luke: All right, I'll give it a try.
Yoda: No. Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.

More quotes from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

Trivia: When Billy Dee Williams (Lando) picked up his daughter from elementary school after the film's release, kids would run up to Williams and say "You betrayed Han Solo!"

More trivia for Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

Chosen answer: He "searched his feelings" as Vader instructed; he reached out with the Force and felt the truth of the statement.

Phixius

Answer: The vision Luke sees in the cave on Dagobah is a clue to this. Luke is realizing he has a lot more in common with Darth Vader than the idealized father he'd always imagined. When Vader tells him he's his father, Luke doesn't want to believe it, but he simply can't deny that it feels much more true that his father would be someone passionate and reckless like himself rather than someone who exemplifies a noble Jedi, which feels like an obvious myth in hindsight.

TonyPH

More questions & answers from Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.