Dude, Vader was lying.
In fact, isn’t that the big twist in “Revenge of the Sith”? Vader really does kill Anakin, & Lucas has to edit out some dialogue from RotJ…
When I saw it in the theatres, the teenagers coming out were WOWing, but didn’t spoil it for us.
And we were WOWing when it was over.
foolsguinea
HA HA! Nice one!
Actually I was mortified at Vader’s revelation(Revelations? 
).
I wanted to dive right off that platform with Luke. Would’ve waved off Lando.
“No thanks, I’ll just take a header through the clouds Here.”
I remember being surprised when Vader said that he was Luke’s father, but not really shocked. I was much more shocked (as some others were) to find out that Leia was Luke’s sister. Oh, and the whole cutting off of the hand thing…that was just cool. 
<slight hijack>
btw, The Ultimate Jedi Master is not Fozzie Bear…He’s Grover.
Just thought I’d clear that up.
Actually, it’s the main reason I could never take Yoda seriously. I saw ESB on opening day and had no idea what was coming. First time Yoda opened his mouth I said to myself, Ha ha! Luke’s jedi master is Grover…What a letdown that was. I’ve always had a hard time watching the Yoda portions of ESB because he just seemed so silly…same with the Ewoks in ROTJ . I’ve since grown to like Yoda. The Ewoks still suck though.
</slight hijack>
I remember being shocked when I first saw ESB, but I just figured that it was one of those Jedi mind tricks, until I saw RotJ, and then I was pissed. I totally thought that Luke should have been boning Leia, and I thought that the whole “redemption” business was just crap.
I remember my friends and I having intense, heated arguments about whether Vader was lying or not. I can’t remember which side I was on, doesn’t matter, but I’m pretty sure I was on the side of Vader telling the truth.
Anyway, yeah, it was a surprise.
i saw esb first show, first day, i had read the book before seeing the movie. i was more freaked out by his hand being lobbed off than darth vader being his father. i have a very viseral reaction to hand injuries.
i liked darth vader so that wasn’t much of a problem for me. it did seem to be a problem for the people in the theatr though… there was a huge gasp and shouts of nooooooo!
leia didn’t have skywalker as a name, and had a father in bail organa. luke had the skywalker name, and an uncle as a father. his uncle down played his father’s importance, then after his uncle’s death he is told his father was a great jedi and pilot.
luke therefore had his image of his father on bit of a pedestal. then darth vader reveals that he is anakin skywalker… luke is naturally rather freaked out by it.
leia had a loving father and didn’t really have to deal with father issues. she could think of vader just as a genetic father not really having much to do with her.
I’m so jealous of all of you who saw ESB in theaters! There’s nothing like a theater experience for movies like Star Wars.
I had the secret spoiled by someone before I ever saw the movie, but was skeptical. Slowly the evidence poured in from different sources, so I never had a real thunderstruck moment.
Like others, I felt it was a much bigger deal that Leia was Luke’s sister.
During Empire, Yoda says “There is another [Jedi if Luke is lost].” I thought for sure it must be Wedge. Why else would they keep around a two-bit, womp-rat shooting character like that? So I was seriously annoyed that my pet theory was shot down, and replaced by a quasi-incestuous situation that made no sense. Leia had shown some street smarts and toughness - that made her a good match for Han Solo, but hardly a Jedi candidate.
And we never did get to find out why Wedge stuck around. Maybe he just wanted to attend the Ewok fiesta at the end.
Well, it wasn’t Vader who did that. That was Grand Moff Tarkin who blew up the planet. Daddy just stood by and watched.
Of course, Vader just tortured his daughter, this is not an improvement.
It helps if you can arrange your birth to be in the early '60s like I did.
TV and video has ruined most of my fond memories of the cinema experience, tho. Especially that thrice damned girly scream they added to Luke’s falling out of Cloud City. When I saw it the theater, I was struck dumb with awe at Luke’s cool, calm, SILENT descision to end his life rather than team up with his twisted, evil father. Ading the scream takes that moment away from me, a true fan, and flushes it into a cesspool of crap. Yeah, I HATE the redos.
I don’t remember being shocked by the revelation in ESB-- as I was only 5-- but I do remember seeing it in the theater with my mom and cousin.
My big Star Wars shocker came in ROTJ when Vader’s helemt came off. When he was laying there about to die, and Luke reached for the helmet, I about pooped in my Garanimals.
Happy
Mr. Miskatonic
Yeah see this is where the whole Vader as dad and Leia as sister just seems like an after thought in Empire.
I’ve never heard the scream. I’ve seen the unremade version on video and he is silent. Was the scream added for the '97 remake?
Vader being Luke’s father wasn’t a surprise. I had known long before I had seen the movies. Luke and Leia being siblings was a huge surprise. For RotJ, my reaction to this was “WTF?! He almost boinked her! Gross!”
Whichever version it is that has all the added CGI.
Yes! THAT wigged us out!
If it helps, they removed the girly scream in the DVD version that was released last year. Greedo still shoots first, however.
I didn’t get to see ESB in its first week of release so of course I got spoiled because ALL the kids in school were talking about it. On the other hand, for some reason I decided I totally hated Star Wars, so I really didn’t care that much. Later on I read the graphic novel which followed the story pretty closely (and is probably worth a mint on ebay now, wish I’d held on to it) and when I eventually saw the movie I knew about everything that happens.
TIME magazine also spoiled the “Leia is Luke’s sister” plot point from RotJ, although they did provide a paragraph about not reading any further if you don’t want to know what happens. I ignored the warning and chose to read on anyway. D’oh!
It gets even worse… Wedge is Obi Wan Kenobi’s uncle.
Not only was I shocked, I didn’t believe it.
AND, I recall for a period of time after the movie, my friends and I held discussions about whether it was really true or not.
It took a little while for it to dawn on us, I guess. My bro, our best friend and I were like 8,9 & 10 when ESB came out and we all saw it in the theater.
I THINK I saw ANH during the re-release. I saw it on a drive-thru.
I was totally shocked and I am Dutch.
So Vader means father in my native tongue.
Whenever I’m leaving a theater and there’s a line of people waiting for another movie, I always say really loudly, “Who woulda thought that Darth
Vader was Luke Skywalker’s father?” a la Homer Simpson.