Podcast Catch-Up, Pt 2: The Nerd Lunch Strikes Back

Kay and I were back on Nerd Lunch last week (Was it just last week? All the Star Wars is starting to run together) talking about The Empire Strikes Back. That's most people's favorite Star Wars movie and there's no doubt that it's the best made, but Carlin and I contend that it's impossible for us to judge purely on its own. If Return of the Jedi had been better, we'd like Empire better.

I'm not going to speak for Carlin about this next part, but I also have issues with the revelation of Vader as Luke's dad. It's a moot point by now, but for me it does mark the moment at which Star Wars became something other than what I wanted it to be. It changed the series from a pulpy fight between good guys and bad guys to a redemption story. And that's cool. It helped Star Wars to grow up a little. My issue is that the series never really handles that redemption story very well. Empire sets up something that the following movies don't deliver on.

But that's a problem for the later movies. To the extent that it can be taken on its own, Empire is undeniably a great film and there's a ton to love about it, all of which we cover in the episode.