It's a mistake to look at SW with today's compulsive, anal desire for all movies in a series to be consistent with each other above all other things. Empire, like Aliens , Wrath of Khan and Godfather 2, is different because sequels SHOULD be different, otherwise what's the point? Even Return of the Jedi forces ALL the characters to end up in a different place from where they started, and aims for a new tone that mixes the heavy (Empire) and the light (Star Wars). I don't even care that it didn't totally work. I'll take that any day over something like entire decades of James Bond and Star Trek, two series that amounted to a continuous circle jerk. In other words, that mix of Lucas/Kershner/Kasdan/Marquand is one of my favorite things about the OT.