Five reasons why Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is better than Star Wars: A New Hope.

1) Boba Fett - Quite possibly the most popular character to only have three lines, and three lines only. And no, Fett's appearance in the Special Edition of A.N.H. doesn't count. I also like to remember my favourite character without a New Zealand accent.

2) The ending - The movie ends like a prequal should. Unlike A.N.H. where it finishes as if the entire Star Wars series had finished, Empire actually has questions unanswered an dleaves you on edge to see the next. I know that someone will probably say that "Lucas wasn't sure if he would be making Empire and R.O.T.J. but, according to the master himself, he had always intended to make the three, which poses the question why do an ending like this at all). The ending is probably the best of all six, and has possibly the best plot twist to ever happen on the silver screen (and the most "mocked").

3) Yoda - Yoda is the bridge between the first and the last, even though he doesn't appear in A.N.H., and a very dodgey-looking Yoda appears in Phantom Menace, the "essence" of Yoda exists in them all. Yoda is the embodiment of the Force, what the pure force stands for and is the ultimate good in the six movies. As said, not in A.N.H., and we have to wait until Empire to meet Yoda and fully understand the Force.

4) Vader as a top dog - Finally Vader is actually the power-player that he is set-up to be in Revenge. In A.N.H. he is the lackey to a lackey and walked all over by guys in mean uniforms. In Empire however, he controls the bad-ass Super Star Destroyer Executor, largest of the Star Destroyers in the films, he gets to fight the second-best lightsabre fight in the originals (behind Vader vs. Luke II: Hand for Hand), he gets to flaunt the Dark Side, and he gets his son back (a heart warming moment).

5) Asteroid chase - Where do you think the Endor chase, the Boonta Eve Classic, the Coruscant chase, the droid factory, the opening seqence of Episode III and the Boga/ Kenobi chase on Utapau all came from? The asteroid chase! It's the first of it's kind, and it wasthe most exciting thing to happen in Star Wars. Where are your asteroid A.N.H.?

Clayton Northcutt.