Isaac Asimov watches Empire Strikes Back

Just thought I would share this: I stumbled upon this old episode of David Letterman from 1980, where he interviews Isaac Asimov. At one point (timestamp 2:56) Letterman asks Asimov if he saw Empire Strikes Back (which had just come out that year), and Asimov says “I enjoyed Empire Strikes Back so much that when they finished it I jumped up in my seat and yelled ‘start the third part!’”

Some random observations I find interesting:

• Asimov talks about Star Wars like it’s straightforward science-fiction, similar to “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”.
• Asimov said he believes the reason Star Wars was so successful was primarily because of the new special effects technology (can’t argue with him on that point!)
• Asimov is under the impression there will eventually be 9 Star Wars films, but laments that at the rate George Lucas makes these films, the 9th film will be released long after Asimov dies. (This turned out to be true, as Asimov died in 1992. He didn’t even get to see the Prequels. Lucky for him?)

Did Asimov find it flattering when Lucas borrowed from His Empire and Foundation books.

I know Lucas also read the Lensman and Skylark series from Edward Elmer Smith and Dune by Frank Herbert, and he had read the Martian stories of Edgar Rice Burroughs that feature John Carter. And he read Tarzan.