LexX said:
What is it in Empire that shrinks the universe? I know you don't like Vader being Luke's father but besides that. I agree with you on ROTJ, though.
Vader being switched to Luke's father was a major story shrink. I suppose Lucas thought it was a huge enhancement\plot twist to make that change, but to me it was just an easy out when he didn't have any more story to tell. He already had two stories by the two people he had asked to write sequels, yet he chose to discard them.
He could have made a series of films where the main characters are presented with new challenges and adventures, e.g. James Bond, Indiana Jones, Star Trek. Instead, he chose to continue by trying to tell the same story over and over again.
The Lando just happening to be nearby angle - oh and also coincidentally being the previous owner of the Falcon - is textbook Lucas back-story shrinking. When he gets stuck without any story, he turns to shrinkage as an out. Everything and everybody are somehow related. No strangers, no vastness of space, no luck, no chance, no skill - just convenience and smallness. It's weak.