About three weeks after I saw A New Hope Special Edition I was geared up to see The Empire Strikes Back with the Special Edition treatment. It was a very special time for me back then. Not only was I experiencing something that I would remember forever with Star Wars, but I was just 3 weeks away from getting my first degree Black Belt in Karate. Being 11 years old at the time and facing pressure like that was a little overwhelming. Star Wars was a means of escape from all that pressure.

Anyway, I went on Saturday February 22 to see Empire, the day after it was released. This time the theatre wasn't as mobbed, which was surprising for a Saturday night. I went with my mother and sister and was awaiting this awesome experience. As we purchased our tickets and sat down we noticed the room wasn't as crowded as it was with A New Hope, which wasn't necessarily a bad thing. I'm not big on overpacked crowds, especially with little kids.

When we sat down the manager of the theater came in with one of the employees with an announcement regarding the film. They said a few speakers in the back of the theatre weren't working and that complete surround sound wasn't possible. I was a little disappointed because I thought the film wouldn't work.

After they left, the trailers started. Apparently the speakers were working fine, because when the trailer for "Volcano" was on the entire room shook and the noise was so loud it was unbearable. Then I saw a trailer for "Batman and Robin" and was so excited because I loved the Batman films as much as the Star Wars films. If I only knew back then how much that movie sucked.

Then the lights dimmed, the 20th Century Fox logo followed by the Lucasfilm Ltd logo arrives and...

A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far Far Away....

STAR WARS

My eyes lit up again. The experience was great. I didn't notice any problems with the speakers and the film sounded great and looked even better than before. The only problem I had was when the sound partially cut out during a scene on Degobah, some jackass in the front screamed something. Another reason why I hate when stupid people interrupt the movie.

It was an amazing experience otherwise and I was completely emersed in the film. I loved all the new scenes with the Wampa, the extended arrival on Cloud City, the new openness of Cloud City and the biggest surprise of all when Vader returned to the Executor on the Imperial Shuttle. I kept wondering when did they film that?

After the film was over we stayed for the credits and saw all the employees who had to clean up the theatre dressed up in Star Wars costumes. It was pretty funny. After we left we ran into a friend we knew from Karate and he was at the same showing we were of Empire. It was great. Then right before we left I saw that A New Hope was playing in another nearby room and I looked in between the doors to see what part it was on. It was when they were escaping from the Death Star. We left the theatre and went home.

The Empire Strikes Back was better than ever and I was delighted for days after seeing it. It wasn't over yet, Return of the Jedi was coming in a few weeks, but I had large task ahead of me before the next time I would be at the movies.