OFFICIAL Star Wars t-shirt. Celebrating the second installment of The Holy Trilogy, this t-shirt design recalls the movie poster for Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back.
A favourite amongst many fans, The Empire Strikes Back developed the characters from the original Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope while taking the franchise in a darker direction.
Luke almost dies three times on the ice planet Hoth in the opening scenes. Once to the cold, once to a snow-cave-dwelling behorned monster, and once when he crashes his A-Wing snow-speeder in a fight with imperial forces that include our first glimpses of the feared AT-AT "walkers".
After being betrayed to Darth Vader by Lando Calrissian, Luke finds out that his arch enemy is actually his father during a scene in which Vader cuts off Luke's hand, forcing Luke to later receive a robotic replacement. Han Solo is captured by bounty hunter Boba Fett, encased in carbonite and transported to Tattooine's sluglike gangster Jabba The Hutt.
All in all, it's doom and gloom, and the movie ends without a hint of the usual hollywood happy ending moviegoers might expect from a "children's" movie.
A stroke of screenwriters' genius, maybe; a cunning ploy to make people watch the final installment of the trilogy perhaps, but nevertheless, Empire remains a firm favourite with film critics and fans of the Star Wars franchise alike.
