It's always struck me that, as far as the films go, Vader doesn't become a raging Force-choke-aholic until ESB. In the first film he only chokes one guy, and that's to prove a point about the power of the Force. He clearly enjoys it, but he doesn't even get to kill him. (Notably, Tarkin stops him--so he clearly has freer rein in the sequels, where his own authority is more paramount.)

I think Larry Kasdan really ran with the idea of Vader Force-choking underlings at the drop of a hat, to the point where it became a running joke.

However, this is certainly an improvement over the Leigh Brackett draft of the script, where Vader just nonchalantly dismisses stupid officers with lines like "Leave me, you incompetent idiot."

That was probably one reason why Lucas disliked the script--judging by Splinter he was probably much more on board with Kasdan's take.