The Empire Strikes Back

AUTHOR: Donald F. Glut, Based on a story by George Lucas
COPYRIGHT: 1980
SERIES: movie novelization
TIME FRAME: Rebellion -- three years after the Battle of Yavin 

The book adaptation of The Empire Strikes Back is a perfectly serviceable novelization. This is the original 1980 book; I know there's been a separate junior novelization in recent years. Glut's writing style isn't flashy, but it's also not too blandly utilitarian either. His descriptions are usually succinct, but they are definitely visual. In many instances, reading his prose puts me right into the movie, and he's describing things shot for shot sometimes. So as far as capturing the movie in a book, I think he succeeded.

I was always curious whether the decision that the sequel was three years later, matching the real time between movies, was intended back then or worked out in the '90s later. This book proves that it was indeed a planned three year leap in time, as Glut notes the years Luke's been with the Rebellion. Funnily enough, the back copy on the paperback suggests it has NOT been three years. It even says, "Now, several months later," even though this clashes with the actual book text. I find that a curiosity.

There are far fewer dramatic differences between the book and the film than with the first movie. However, Yoda is described as being blue here rather than green. Another instance on Dagobah worth mentioning is the place that is "strong with the dark side of the Force". In the movie, this was ultimately some sort of cave, but in the book it's said to be inside a massive tree. I actually like this better because the Force is created "by all living things" and a cave is not alive. So it seems this idea was shifted a little for budgetary reasons, or it was present in the movie and just not really made clear. I'm inclined to think it was simply changed, since in the movie Yoda says, "Remember your failure at the cave!" but in the book it's "Remember your failure at the tree!"

The one place the novel really falls short is in the dialogue between Han and Leia. Some scenes go on longer than they need to, and some of their exchanges are just flat compared with what's in the film. Probably this is due to dialogue in the early script being used for the book, and this was changed or trimmed later. The lines don't have the punch or repartee that they do in the movie, which helps show what a great director Kershner was and how nice it was to craft those scenes and allow the actors to play with them. Almost every memorable exchange is better in the movie than in the novelization.

But there is one surprising curiosity between Leia and Han, and that's the famous exchange at the carbon freezing. In the movie, when Leia says, "I love you," Han's response was meant to be "I love you too." But we all know what ended up in the film is the memorable, "I know." Yet the novel has neither of these lines. His response is both cavalier and confusing. When Leia says she loves him: "He smiled his familiar cocky smile. 'Just remember that, because I'll be back.'" What? That's a very different sentiment from either of the other options! Did they lose this early on because they didn't want to telegraph? Perhaps they even truly believed he'd stay dead, though that seems unlikely given the ending (despite what Harrison Ford may have wanted). Of all the responses, I never expected Han's to be "I'll be back."

While the stuff with Han and Leia pales in comparison to the movie, the rest of the book is solidly handled. The action reads well, neither boring nor confusing, with a very visual sense of the prose without being too purple or verbose. For someone just wanting to relive the movie experience and not much else, it's a good novelization.

GRADE: B