Three years ago, Associate Editor Gerald Clarke attended a sneak movie preview in San Francisco with hundreds of screaming children, a few science-fiction buffs and the creator of the film in question, George Lucas. Clarke emerged from the theater to urge that TIME'S editors schedule a major story about "a movie you have to love." Clarke's article appeared soon after, previewing a film that was to receive a tidal wave of national attention: Star Wars, the fun-and-fantasy space opera that became the most financially successful motion picture ever made.

Movie sequels never seem to measure up either to the original or to the memories of our enjoyment. The Empire Strikes Back, the second "chapter" in Lucas' saga, was awaited with trepidation. Again Clarke sneaked an early look--and once more came away eager to write a major story. Says Clarke: "This is no ordinary sequel. Lucas and his company have used their Star Wars profits to make a film far more sophisticated in its technical effects. Lucas' imagination is as bountiful as ever, and he seems to have taken up where Disney left off. There are disappointments in The Empire, but it retains that special sense that fairy tales have--a moral dimension that touches us much more deeply than one-dimensional action adventures can."

The film brought Los Angeles Correspondent James Willwerth, who interviewed Lucas and many of the film's principals for the story, back to memories of his childhood. "It is a fairy tale disguised as science fiction," he says. Willwerth confesses that he is not a science-fiction fan, but says, "I enjoyed the film thoroughly because it reminded me of my own childhood fantasies. During three days of talks, Lucas told me that what he wanted to do in the Star Wars series was to create a 'classic children's tale,' so the assignment suited me fine: I still like Peter Pan and Snow White. My older brother read L. Frank Baum's Oz stories to me when I was little, and I intend to read them to my son when he is old enough."

Willwerth's favorite moment came in Modesto, Calif., during a talk with Lucas and his parents, whose conservative views the film maker does not share. The couple avoided current events, describing instead how their son is the pride of his home town. Reports Willwerth: "Then George Senior's face clouded up and he exclaimed: 'What if Jane Fonda had been our daughter?' "

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