The Empire Strikes Back Trivia
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This Empire Strikes Back trivia quiz has 43 free questions with answers and covers Episode V from the ice caves of Hoth to the underside of Cloud City: the wampa, the tauntaun, the AT-AT assault, the asteroid field, Yoda's training on Dagobah, the bounty hunters, Lando's betrayal, the carbonite chamber and the duel that ends with the most famous line in the saga. It also digs into how the film got made — George Lucas financing it himself and nearly running out of money, Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan's scripts, Irvin Kershner's hiring, the Finse blizzards, the Elstree fire, the fake line fed to David Prowse, Harrison Ford's improvised reply to Leia — plus its Oscars, its box office and its critical reappraisal. Early questions suit anyone who has seen it more than once; later ones reward fans who know the budget, the working names for Yoda, and who physically played the Emperor. Every answer was checked against encyclopaedia entries before publishing.
30 of 43 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Who directed The Empire Strikes Back?
Irvin Kershner
Irvin Kershner got the job in February 1978 after Lucas considered around 100 directors, including Alan Parker and John Badham.
Q 02How many years after the original Star Wars is the film set?
Three
Three years: the film is set in 3 ABY, three years after the Battle of Yavin that closed the original Star Wars, with the Rebels now hiding on Hoth.
Q 03On which ice planet is the Rebel base at the start of the film?
Hoth
Hoth is the ice planet hiding Echo Base; an Imperial probe droid finds it and the Empire attacks with AT-AT walkers.
Q 04What creature captures Luke in the opening scenes?
A wampa
A wampa, Hoth's ice creature, drags Luke to its cave; he escapes by using the Force to pull his lightsaber to his hand for the first time.
Q 05How does Han keep Luke alive overnight in the snow?
He puts him inside a tauntaun carcass
Han's line about the smell became one of the film's most quoted.
Q 06Which Jedi Master trains Luke on Dagobah?
Yoda
Yoda, the Jedi Master living in exile in Dagobah's swamps, was puppeteered and voiced by Frank Oz, who also performed Miss Piggy for the Muppets.
Q 07What does Yoda lift out of the swamp to show Luke the power of the Force?
The sunken X-wing
Yoda raises Luke's sunken X-wing out of the swamp after Luke fails and calls it too big; Yoda replies, 'Size matters not.'
Q 08In The Empire Strikes Back, what is wrong with the Millennium Falcon as it flees Hoth?
Its hyperdrive malfunctions
Its hyperdrive malfunctions, so they hide in an asteroid field, where Han and Leia grow closer.
Q 09Which bounty hunter is described as a humanoid lizard?
Bossk
Bossk, a reptilian Trandoshan bounty hunter, was played in a lizard suit by Alan Harris; he stands among the hunters Vader summons aboard the Executor.
Q 10Who administers Cloud City on the gas planet Bespin?
Lando Calrissian
Lando Calrissian, played by Billy Dee Williams, is Cloud City's Baron Administrator and Han's old friend who once owned the Millennium Falcon.
Q 11What is Han frozen in on Cloud City?
Carbonite
Carbonite: Vader has Han frozen in carbonite to test whether the process can safely imprison Luke, then hands the slab to Boba Fett.
Q 12What is Han's famous reply when Leia says 'I love you'?
I know
'I know': Harrison Ford proposed the reply in rehearsal with director Irvin Kershner because the scripted line felt out of character for Han.
Q 13Which body part does Vader sever from Luke in their Cloud City duel?
His right hand
His right hand: Vader's lightsaber takes Luke's right hand and his saber with it, moments before the 'I am your father' revelation.
Q 21Roughly how much did the film gross worldwide in its original 1980 release?
$400 million
About $400 million: the original run took roughly $209 million in North America and $192 million elsewhere, making it 1980's highest-grossing film.
Q 22Which actor's small percentage of the box office gross was payment for a few hours' work as Obi-Wan?
Alec Guinness
Alec Guinness returned as Obi-Wan's ghost for a brief Elstree shoot, taking a small share of the gross; an eye condition made him wary of bright lights.
Q 23Who voiced the Emperor in the original 1980 release?
Clive Revill
Clive Revill voiced the hologram Emperor in 1980, with Elaine Baker's face under the hood; the scene was re-shot with a new actor for the 2004 DVD.
Q 14Which two screenwriters are credited on the film?
Leigh Brackett and Lawrence Kasdan
Brackett died of cancer after her first draft; Kasdan was hired after impressing Lucas with Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Q 15In which Norwegian village were the Hoth scenes filmed?
Finse
Finse, a rail stop beside the Hardangerjøkulen glacier, stood in for Hoth; the crew shot there in blizzards in March 1979.
Q 16At which English studio were the interiors shot?
Elstree
Elstree Studios in Borehamwood hosted the interiors; Lucas paid for a new 'Star Wars stage' there for the Dagobah and Rebel base sets.
Q 17Which Stanley Kubrick film's set fire at the studio destroyed space planned for Empire?
The Shining
The Shining: a January 1979 fire on Kubrick's Overlook Hotel set at Elstree gutted a stage Empire was counting on, forcing a scramble for space.
Q 18What was the film's final production cost?
$30.5 million
$30.5 million: the budget rose from roughly $18 million as the shoot ran over, and Lucas, financing it himself, nearly ran out of money in July 1979.
Q 19How did George Lucas primarily finance the film?
His own Star Wars profits plus a bank loan
Lucas paid for the film with his own Star Wars profits plus a bank loan, keeping ownership and sequel rights; Fox only distributed it.
Q 20Which two Academy Awards did the film win?
Best Sound and a special award for visual effects
It won Best Sound and a special Academy Award for visual effects; John Williams's score and the art direction were nominated but lost.
Q 24Which makeup artist was chiefly responsible for building the Yoda puppet?
Stuart Freeborn
Stuart Freeborn, Lucasfilm's makeup chief, sculpted the Yoda puppet, modeling its face partly on his own and on Albert Einstein's.
Q 25In Leigh Brackett's first draft, who was Luke's sister?
A brand-new character
A brand-new character: Brackett's draft gave Luke a separate twin sister, Nellith, on another world; Lucas only made Leia the sister while writing Return of the Jedi.
Q 26What was novelist Alan Dean Foster hired to write in case Star Wars flopped?
A cheap sequel, later the novel Splinter of the Mind's Eye
Its success meant Lucas could aim far bigger for the real sequel.
Q 27Which Rebel pilot, played by Denis Lawson, appears on Hoth?
Wedge Antilles
Wedge Antilles is Lawson's role; his nephew Ewan McGregor later played Obi-Wan.
Q 28Which Imperial admiral, played by Michael Sheard, is choked by Vader for exiting hyperspace too close to Hoth?
Ozzel
Admiral Ozzel, played by Michael Sheard, is Force-choked for dropping out of hyperspace too close and alerting the Rebels; Kenneth Colley's Captain Piett is promoted on the spot.
Q 29To whom is the frozen Han to be delivered for a bounty?
Jabba the Hutt
Jabba the Hutt: Boba Fett takes the carbon-frozen Han to the crime lord on Tatooine to collect the bounty, setting up Return of the Jedi's opening.
Q 30Why does Luke leave Dagobah before finishing his training?
He has a vision of Han and Leia in pain
He has a vision of Han and Leia in pain in a city in the clouds and leaves to save them, despite Yoda and Obi-Wan warning that it is a trap.