The darkest installment of the Star Wars trilogy is widely acknowledged to be the best, marking a high point, quality-wise, in the middle of the epic story. The Empire Strikes Back brought back all the familiar characters audiences grew to love –or hate—from  the first Star Wars movie and introduced a few more players to the intergalactic struggle of good versus evil.

After the jubilant ending of the A New Hope, the rebellion encounters the Empire’s redoubled efforts to crush all resistance. Though the Death Star has been destroyed, the rest of the fleet mercilessly hunts down the rebels whatever corner of the universe they choose as a hiding place. In the remote ice planet Hoth, the rebels continue to plot against the empire, when Luke is attacked by a Yeti-like wampa while out on patrol. Injured and delirious, he has a vision of Obi-wan instructing him to study under Yoda, a formidable Jedi Master. Han rides to the rescue and Luke is taken back to rebel headquarters.

Darth Vader discovers the whereabouts of the rebel base and sends in strormtroopers and towering AT-AT vehicles to wipe them out. The rebels, including Luke, Leia and Han, wage a pitched battle over the icy planes of Hoth and manage to evacuate most of the rebels safely. Luke decides to go to the Dagobah system and meet with Yoda, following Obi-wan’s advice, while Han, Leia, Chewie and C3-PO run into trouble when the Millennium Falcon stalls with an Imperial fleet detachment on it tail. To escape their pursuers, they are forced to hide in an asteroid field that holds a terrifying surprise for them.

Meanwhile, Luke meets Yoda on the verdant planet of Dagobah but is not impressed by the Jedi’s small stature and advanced age. Yoda and a ghostly Obi-wan proceed to teach Luke things he should have learned in kindergarten: don’t judge a book by its cover, with age comes wisdom, good things come in small packages, etc. Luke’s training reveals some sticky psychological issues and even though the Force is strong in him, he’s not exactly head of the class.

The Millennium Falcon eludes the Imperial fleet because of Han’s clever ruse but the battered ship needs to be repaired fast. Han picks Cloud City as a safe haven as it is administrated by his old friend and all around son-of-a-gun, Lando Calrissian. Lando rolls out the welcome wagon when they arrive, much to Leia’s chagrin: she doesn’t trust the suave Calrissian and she’s also worried about C3-PO’s disappearance as soon as they arrived at Cloud City. That woman’s intuition serves Leia well because Darth Vader pressured Lando into betraying Han and his friends and arrives now to take them all prisoner.

Back on Dagobah, Luke senses that something is terribly wrong with his friends—who are being tortured by Vader in Cloud City—and stops his Jedi training to go help them. Being smarter (and more wrinkled) Yoda informs him that this is Vader’s trap for Luke, his friends being bait. Yoda and Obi-wan fail to convince Luke that his best weapon against is completing the Jedi training and as Luke leaves Dagobah, he promises to come back and finish his instruction. Yoda and Obi-wan shake their heads because they foresee hard times for the brash young man.

In Cloud City, Luke arrives a smidge too late to save Han who has been frozen in carbonite and given to a bounty hunter while Leia and Chewie watch helplessly. Vader senses Luke’s presence and soon the two engage in a heated battle that ends with Luke’s near death and a revelation from Vader that shocks the Jedi out of him. At the movie’s end, Luke is physically and emotionally beaten, the group of friends is separated and the Empire seems to be on top once again.

The Empire Strikes Back opened in the summer of 1980, satisfying the salivating Star Wars fans who had waited three years for A New Hope’s sequel. Lawrence Kasdan and Irvin Kershner wrote and directed, respectively, with George Lucas overseeing the whole shebang as executive producer. Despite the downer ending, audiences loved this installment, which also boasted even more special effects and action sequences.