The Empire Strikes Back, the perennial episode in George Lucas's original Star Wars trilogy, is generally considered the best of the films in the Star Wars Saga. For most Star Wars fans, it has the perfect blend of complex storytelling, compelling dialogue, and fantastic visual effects. Lucas convinced industry veteran Irvin Kershner to direct, and Lawrence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett to pen the script, who had written '40s noir classics like The Big Sleep, resulting in a darker contribution to the Star Wars Universe.

The Rebels begin by being overpowered by the brutal might of Imperial forces and narrowly escape. Luke Skywalker journeys to a distant planet to search for the Jedi Master that can begin his Jedi training. The film culminates in a battle on Cloud City between the forces of good and evil, featuring some of the most electrifying scenes in cinematic history. Here are 10 things you'll only notice when you rewatch the classic film.

THE TITLE CRAWL

The opening text crawl in The Empire Strikes Back

Every episode in the Star Wars Saga has begun with a title crawl opening sequence. It's used to introduce major events and characters, as well as give context to the film (or films that preceded it). If you watch the opening crawl in The Empire Strikes Back, you might notice something conspicuous as it begins.

RELATED: 5 Reasons Empire Strikes Back Is The Best Star Wars Movie (& 5 Reasons It's Not)

Episode V is the first Star Wars film to actually have an episode designation that comes before the title crawl. Prior to the film, studio executives forbade Lucas from putting an episode designation before A New Hope. They felt assigning it "Episode IV" would confuse viewers.

THE WAMPA ATTACK SIGNAGE

There was a version written of Empire Strikes Back involving several wampas attacking Echo Base along with Imperial snowtroopers. However, due to budget constraints and an already difficult production, this didn't come to pass. The Wampa scene involving Luke was expensive enough, and was only one stunt performer in a suit.

Just because the Wampa attack scene never took place, doesn't mean there aren't little hints pertaining to Wampas throughout Echo Base. If you watch the corridor walls carefully, you'll see the characters walk past a yellow sign that explains to beware of Wampas in galactic basic.

THE FULL FALCON

Rebels in Echo Base in The Empire Strikes Back

The floor plan of Echo Base is ginormous, as evidenced by the fact that there's an entire hanger bay built inside enlarged ice caverns the Rebels used to their advantage. The Millennium Falcon is able to rest in its entirety, which marks a Star Wars first; a life-sized version of the Millennium Falcon had never been built before.

RELATED: Star Wars: The Millennium Falcon's 10 Finest Moments

While part of the Falcon had been seen in A New Hope, particularly when it was on Tatooine, when it was in the Death Star's hanger, and when it was in the Rebel Base on Yavin 4, a full size version was constructed for the first time to be seen in Episode V. It was 60 feet long and 16 feet high.

HEY CLIFF!

John Ratzenberger as Major Derlin in Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back

Cheers fans with sharp eyes may be able to point out the identity of a certain Rebel Major in Echo Base. His signature sandy mustache hasn't gone grey yet, but it's still John Ratzenberger, barfly Cliff Calven and frequent Pixar voice actor who's verbally berating an indignant Han Solo.

Watch for Ratzenberger, aka Major Bren Derlin, warning Han Solo about the risks of going out on tauntaun when temperatures have gotten below freezing. "Your tauntaun will freeze before you reach the first marker!" he shouts, to which Han Solo replies, "Then I'll see you in Hell!"

STOP-MOTION LUKE

It's easy to miss once you're absorbed in the snowspeeders and AT-AT's during the exciting Battle of Hoth, but pay attention to when Luke Skywalker uses his magnetic cable to attach to the underside of an AT-AT. It's not a stunt double being pulled up, but a stop-motion figurine.

The Empire Strikes Back actually has the most stop-motion figures in the entire trilogy. This is due to the use of several Tauntauns on Hoth, some aspects of the Wampa snow creature, and the giant space slug that resides in the asteroid Han Solo uses to conceal the Millennium Falcon from the Imperial Fleet.

TWO IMPERIAL ACTORS APPEARED IN ANOTHER LUCAS FILM

Admiral Ozzel may have come out of lightspeed too close to the Hoth system and paid with his life for alerting the Rebels to the Imperial Fleet, but the actor would get another chance to make an appearance in a Lucas project - Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. He plays Adolf Hitler himself, who Indy gets an unintended autograph from.

RELATED: Indiana Jones: 10 Things You Didn't Know About The Last Crusade

Another Episode V alum also makes an appearance in the same movie, albeit in a much larger role. General Veers (Julian Glover), responsible for the AT-AT ground assault on Echo Base, appears as Walter Donovan, the villain after the titular Holy Grail.

ASTEROIDS, SHOES, & POTATOES, OH MY!

The Millennium Falcon flying through an asteroid field

An asteroid field becomes the perfect way for the Millennium Falcon to give the Imperial Fleet the slip after the Battle of Hoth. As Han Solo deftly pilots the freighter through the barrage, the Imperial Fleet sends the more easily maneuvered TIE fighters to give pursuit.

As you watch closely, you should be able to pick out the strange objects that the prop department put in to pass as asteroids. In one scene you can spot a potato, and in another scene you can spot a tennis shoe. There's another shoe that appears in Return of the Jedi near a Star Destroyer, and strongly resembles a Reebok model.

HAN SOLO'S SLEIGHT OF HAND

Han Solo gets frozen in carbonite in Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back.

As Han Solo is led to the freezing chamber to be put into carbonite for the bounty hunter Boba Fett's commission, he's in Imperial binder cuffs. This is standard procedure for all prisoners being given Imperial escort, especially criminals as dangerous and unpredictable as Han Solo.

There's been a lot of debate around whether or not he escaped from binder cuffs himself before he's the binder cuffs lowered down into the freezing chamber to begin the process of carbon stasis, but it's actually the Ugnaughts that do this. It's the bindings on his upper arms, which are made of carbonite, that keep him firmly in place, so when the giant slab of carbonite rises from the chamber, his hands are up around his mouth in a frozen expression of distress.

BOBA FETT UNMASKED

Boba Fett may be shrouded in mystery in The Empire Strikes Back as one of the galaxy's most notorious bounty hunters, but his human alter-ego actor Jeremy Bulloch is visible in the film if you know where to look. He's the officer in charge of the detachment under orders to take Princess Leia and Chewbacca to Vader's ship.

RELATED: Boba Fett: The 10 Coolest Facts From Star Wars Comics Canon

You'll notice him grappling Leia once she spots Luke enter Cloud City, shouting at him that he's being led into a trap. Luke doesn't hear her of course, and gets sucked into the climactic duel with Darth Vader in the carbon freezing chamber.

LANDO IS A PUPPET

When Leia hears Luke's telepathic distress signal as she flees Cloud City with Chewie and Lando, she orders them to turn the Millennium Falcon around because she knows where Luke is. Chewie positions the Falcon under the antennae that Luke is dangling from, and a hatch opens up for Lando to ascend and retrieve him.

Instead of having to create a life-size portion of the ship that actor Billy Dee Williams would emerge from, if you watch closely, you'll see for a split second that the ship is actually a miniature and that the "Lando" emerging is a puppet made of papier-mâché and soft foam to sell the visual effect!

NEXT: Batman: 10 Small Details You Only Notice Rewatching The Dark Knight