History Film / TheEmpireStrikesBack

** Arguably, this could also extend to Palpatine, since Vader's actions are entirely in line with his training. Whether as a Jedi or a Sith, Vader was always taught that [[LoveIsAWeakness connections are a liability]]. Lando cared about the people of Bespin, so Vader assumed he could keep Lando in line by threatening them. Boba Fett was a loner, so Vader would see him as more dangerous and would think paying him was [[PragmaticVillainy more practical]] than adding someone with such a [[TheDreaded fearsome reputation]] to the Empire's growing list of enemies.

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* CaveMouth: The crew of the Millennium Falcon confuses a Space Slug's mouth with an asteroid cave.

* ComplexityAddiction: Rather than sabotaging the Millennium Falcon's hyperdrive and waiting for Luke to be picked up by his friends, then trying to capture the Falcon, Vader could have just sent a shuttle down to the underside of Cloud City to capture Luke directly.

* FollowTheWhiteRabbit: The Imperials follow the Millennium Falcon into the asteroid field, then Boba Fetts' ship, and the Imperials after him, follow the Millennium Falcon to Cloud City.

* LostHimInACardGame: It is revealed that Lando lost the Millennium Falcon to Han in a card game called sabacc. The way they talk about that ship, it could be considered a person. As it turns out, the Falcon's computer contains the uploaded memory core of Lando's droid L3-37 ([[{{Robosexual}} for whom he may have had feelings]]) after she was destroyed on Kessel.

** Subverted. The Millennium Falcon's hyperdrive repeatedly fails despite Lando Calrissian's insistence that it's fixed. The subversion is he's right, the hyperdrive itself is fixed. An Imperial tracking device planted on the ship is interfering with its proper operation.

* SternChase: After the Rebels base on Hoth is discovered by Imperial forces, Han, Leia, Chewie and C-3PO spend half of the movie eluding Imperial Star Destroyers on board the Millennium Falcon while dealing with a malfunctioning hyperdrive, eventually reaching Cloud City on Bespin... only for Han to be frozen in carbonite and handed over to bounty hunter Boba Fett, which prompts Leia, Chewie, Lando and Threepio to rescue Luke and seek Han's whereabouts.

* SwallowedWhole: When escaping Imperial pursuit, the Millennium Falcon goes to ground amidst a cluster of asteroids and lands within a cave. When a stray shot makes the cavern shudder, Han realizes that the "cave" is in fact the gullet of a gigantic space worm, and the Falcon makes its escape just as the beast's jaws snap shut.

* TravelingAtTheSpeedOfPlot: [[EnforcedTrope Enforced]]. Luke and the crew of the Millennium Falcon leave Hoth at about the same time. Luke does a hyperspace jump to Dagobah to go meet Yoda. The Falcon, whose hyperdrive malfunctions, tries to evade Imperial forces in a nearby asteroid field. WordOfGod states that the Falcon's trip from Hoth to Bespin took several months because of the aforementioned issues, giving Luke enough time to get a crash course in Jedi training and arrive on Bespin at roughly the same time as them.[[invoked]]

* VillainOfAnotherStory: All the other bounty hunters Vader tasked with capturing the Millennium Falcon.

* HangingByTheFingers: Luke is first left hanging on a catwalk during his duel with Darth Vader. After Darth Vader finally defeats him Luke finds himself hanging on for dear life on one of the many weather vanes extending out from beneath the city.

* ShortLivedAerialEscape: Averted. The heroes catch up with Boba Fett as he is lifting off with Slave I. As the only weapons they have are small handheld blasters, however, the Slave I gets away.

* ThisIsGonnaSuck: The movie has Han Solo expressing concern when he's trying to outrace the Empire, only to be told by [=C-3PO=] why they can't:

* FieldPromotion: Piett.

* ItsPersonal: Cleverly played with Vader's pursuit of Luke. Vader's first scene makes it clear he's learned who Luke is in the interim since the last film. So the subtext of his obsessive pursuit of Luke initially seems to be this is payback for Yavin and Vader's humiliation at the Death Star. This is subsequently supplemented with a secondary motive after his "confrence call" with the Emperor: direct orders to corrupt the young Jedi and turn him to the Dark Side. However, once Luke finally confronts Vader at Bespin, it turns out the Sith Lord's real motives for pursuing Luke ''are'' personal -- just ''not'' what he (or the audience at the time of the original release) could ever have expected.

* IWantThemAlive: "'''No''' disintegrations!"
-->'''Boba Fett:''' As you wish.

* ItsPersonal: Cleverly played with Vader's pursuit of Luke. Vader's first scene makes it clear he's learned who Luke is in the interim since the last film. So the subtext of his obsessive pursuit of Luke initially seems to be this is payback for Yavin and Vader's humiliation at the Death Star. This is subsequently supplemented with a secondary motive after his "confrence call" with the Emperor: direct orders to corrupt the young Jedi and turn him to the Dark Side). However, once Luke finally confronts Vader at Bespin, it turns out the Sith Lord's real motives for pursuing Luke ''are'' personal -- just ''not'' what he (or the audience at the time of the original release) could ever have expected.

* FamedInStory: Played with re: Luke and the aftermath of the Battle of Yavin. On the one hand, the Imperial Navy obviously knows now who blew up the Death Star and wants his head (Vader especially, albeit for his own personal reasons). On the other hand, a civillian like Lando doesn't recognize the name or its significance (thoguh in fairness to Lando, he ''was'' preocupied with his DealWithTheDevil and betraying Han).

* ItsPersonal: Cleverly played with Vader's pursuit of Luke. His first apperance makes it clear he knows damm well now who Luke is. So the subtext of his obsessive pursuit of Luke at first is that this is payback for Yavin and Vader's humiliation (with the added element of executing Palpatine's orders to corrupt the young Jedi). However, once Luke finally confronts Vader at Bespin, it turns out the Sith Lord's motives for pursuing Luke ''are'' personal -- just ''not'' what he (or the audience at the time of the original release) could ever have expected.

* ItsPersonal: Cleverly played with re: Vader's pursuit of Luke. His first apperance makes it clear he knows damm well now who Luke is. So the subtext of his obsessive pursuit of Luke at first is that this is payback for Yavin and Vader's humiliation (with the added element of executing Palpatine's orders to corrupt the young Jedi). However, once Luke finally confronts Vader at Bespin, it turns out the Sith Lord's motives for pursuing Luke ''are'' personal -- just ''not'' what he (or the audience at the time of the original release) could ever have expected.
** Luke's grudge with Vader, by contrast, is played straight. He thinks he's going up against the monster who murdered Obi-Wan and his father (and the old Jedi Order).

* In his communication with Vader, the Emperor says there’s "a great disturbance in the Force", foreshadowing TheReveal in the next movie that he is himself a Force sensitive.

* HelmetMountedSight: Boba Fett's helmet has an "antenna" with a black rectangle at the end that can be rotated 90 degrees to go over the visor. He's seen with it lowered while [[https://www.bobafettfanclub.com/multimedia/galleries/5694/ flying]] the ''Slave I'', and ''Series/TheMandalorian'' also shows that it's part of his jetpack missile's targeting system. In ''VideoGame/BountyHunter'' it's also used to scan for and mark bounties, complete with a list of crimes and value(s) for bringing in dead or alive.

-->'''C-3PO:''' Well, don't look at me, I'm just an interpreter. How am I supposed to tell the difference between a power socket from a computer terminal?

* {{Panacea}}: Bacta is a liquid medicine used to regenerate people from severe injuries. In this movie, Luke Skywalker is immersed in a bacta tank to recover from hypothermia and being mauled by a wampa during a misadventure at the start of the film. In ''Series/TheMandalorian'', IG-11 uses a bacta spray to heal Din Djarin of a head injury sustained in an explosion. In the ExpandedUniverse, bacta has also been used to treat diseases.

* OnlyInItForTheMoney: This is the reason bounty hunter Boba Fett (among others) agrees to help Darth Vader capture Han and company, as Jabba made good on his threat to "put a price on Solo's head so high, he wouldn't be able to get near a civilized system." This is averted with Boba's "father" Jango Fett when he makes a deal to become the template for the Clone Troopers. Though Jango's fee was still sizeable, another of his conditions was to have a single unaltered clone to raise as his son.

* {{Facepalm}}: Leia covers her brow with her hand after the ''Falcon''[='=]s hyperdrive fails yet again.

* BuzzJob: After finding that the ''Millenium Falcon'''s hyperdrive is still inoperable, Han turns around and flies right at the Star Destroyer chasing them, buzzing the ship's bridge, making the captain and first officer duck, and then disappearing ([[RefugeInAudacity actually clamping onto the back of the ship's command tower]]).

* ShockingDefeatLegacy: After Yavin, there's the Mid Rim Offensive, the first full-scale offensive of the Rebel Alliance, turning in the Mid Rim ''Retreat'' when the Empire rallies and uses its enormous numerical superiority. After this defeat, the Rebellion refrains from large-scale offensives for over three years until Endor, knowing that facing the Empire in one would inevitably resulting in the numerically superior enemy concentrating enough forces to wipe out whatever troops and ships the Rebellion had sent in.