Irvin Kirshner was a brilliant director. he was the (only?) reason that the Yoda puppet "worked" onscreen. he never shoved the camera right in the puppet's face and expected it to to do any "acting" (like Lucas in Episode 1). the camera never lingered; the puppet almost never completes a full line of dialog with its mouth showing; the camera always shoots "around" the puppet and never straight "at" it. its brilliant.
same with the Han/Leia scene on Bespin right before they get taken to Vader. brilliant. as if these two characters can't quite look each other in the eye... the dialog unfolds as the camera peers in from the ceiling and moves around the room. its doesn't sit motionless right up in the actor's faces so every line of dialog is a close-up.
like Lucas in.. etc.. etc.. hehe.
and the screenplay was also brilliant. Leigh Bracket for tehWiN. Best. Screenplay. Ever.
when I saw the "I am your father" scene it hit me like a hammer. I was numb. I was (literally) bumping into stuff on the way out of the theater. I could barely function.
ever since then I've been like a sponge for the Star Wars movies.
thats when I became a hopeless fan(atic).
unfortunately, I haven't enjoyed a Star Wars in the same way since. and now they're all done. ???
after ESB, Star Wars just wasn't the same.
the success of the Yoda puppet seemed to encourage George to fill the entire next movie with puppets. probably because he thought they would "work" onscreen, like Yoda did in (Kirshner's) ESB. but these were not cool-looking 'ultra-realistic' puppets operated by masters of the art (like Frank Oz) and filmed by a brilliant director (like Kirshner). these were silly-looking muppets like Salacious Crumb and Admiral Ackbar and that big blue "shmoo-thing" playing the bagpipes (wtf?).
oh, and the robot in Jabba's dungeon, he was the worst: "..ever since our master got angry with our last protocol droid and dismembered him.." with the camera lingering RIGHT ON ITS FACE the whole time.
((opposite-of-brilliant)) ::)
point is, the success of ESB seemed to give George a lot more freedom to inject his own personality into the next ones (ie: to be 'cute and funny' in a 1950's/bugs-bunny/kind-of-way) ::)
but at heart, George's "1950's-style" sense of humor/drama/timing.. well.. it really.. just doesn't work for STAR WARS. (sorry George)
I know Star Wars is supposed to be all about "George Lucas' Vision" but.. I think I'm starting to realise.. I actually fell in love with the work of Leigh Bracket and Irvin Kirshner
(based on characters created by George Lucas). heh :/
ESB defined "Star Wars" for me. best. episode. ever.