Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (novel)

The Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back novelization, written by Donald F. Glut, is the official novelization of the film of the same title. Like other novelizations, Empire contains many scenes and details cut from the film. Original printings of the book do not bear the label "Episode V" anywhere.

Editions

 * ISBN 0-345-28392-9; 1980, Del Rey, 214-page paperback
 * ISBN 3863; 1980, Book Club Del Rey, 183-page Hardcover
 * ISBN 0722156537; 1980, Sphere, 215-page paperback (with color photos)
 * ISBN 0-345-40078-X; September1995,Del Rey, 216-page Hardcover

Foreign

 * ISBN 0-7278-0629-7; 1980 British Severn House Publishing, 3215-page Hardcover
 * ISBN 0-316-88205-4; 1996 British Little Brown Publishing, 213-page Hardcover
 * ISBN 1-85723-946-6; 1999 British Orbit Publishing, 213-page Hardcover
 * ISBN 5699126643; Eksmo Publishing, 352-page Russian hardcover (Империя наносит ответный удар)
 * ISBN 978-954-528-850-0; 2008, Trud, 197-page Bulgarian paperback (Империята отвръща на удара)
 * ISBN 978-954-528-851-7; 2008, Trud, 198-page Bulgarian hardcover (Империята отвръща на удара)

Publisher's summary
''Although they had won a significant battle, the war between the Rebels and the Empire had really just begun. Soon, Luke, Han, the princess and their faithful companions were forced to flee, scattering in all directions&hellip;the Dark Lord's minions in fevered pursuit&hellip;''

Summary
The book is the same as the film, with only a few minor differences or changes in detail or plot. A few are listed below.

Differences from the film

 * During the Battle of Hoth, Hobbie crashes his snowspeeder into the head of General Maximilian Veers's AT-AT, killing both after the Rebels's shield generator is destoryed.
 * Yoda has blue skin.
 * Luke never bumps his head in his hurry to tell Obi-Wan and Yoda he is ready to become a Jedi.
 * Han and Leia's kiss is not interrupted by C-3PO, but Chewbacca witnesses part of the scene.
 * There are only five bounty hunters present aboard the Executor. 4-LOM is omitted, and Zuckuss is described as a human.
 * Lorth Needa's death is not directly described. At the beginning of one paragraph all it says is: "A pair of white-armored stormtroopers lifted Captain Needa's lifeless form from the floor of Darth Vader's Imperial Star Destroyer."
 * It says Luke saw scrolls of what looked like hand written manuscripts.
 * Darth Vader has a blue lightsaber blade.
 * When Luke is attacked by Stormtroopers in Cloud City, he returns fire with his blaster, unlike in the film, where he doesn't fire a single shot.
 * Luke falls towards the clouds from the weather vane at the bottom of Cloud City before the Millennium Falcon intercepts him.
 * Darth Vader says "Bring my ship in." instead of "Alert my Star Destroyer to prepare for my arrival."
 * The nebula at the end of the film is a red-orange star.
 * Luke's training with Master Yoda and Han and Leia's relationship are both examined in much more detail.

As with all novelizations, the dialogue does not exactly match that of the film version. A sample of these differences:
 * Han never says, "And I thought they smelled bad... on the outside."
 * E-3PO never says, "E chu ta!".
 * Lando says, "I have a bad feeling about this."
 * Han never says "I know" in response to Leia's "I love you," which was due to Harrison Ford ad-libbing the line.

Cover gallery
This is a gallery of the different cover variations of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

Behind the scenes

 * Released almost a full month before its movie counterpart.

Collected in

 * Star Wars Trilogy