The Empire Strikes Back

Special Edition Laserdisc Side 5, Chapter 32

Luke’s doing handstands on Dagobah again, and objects including Artoo are floating.

Y: Concentrate. Feel the Force flow. Yesss. Good. Calm. Yesss. Through the Force, things you will see. Other places; the future; the past. Old friends long gone.

L: Han? Leia! <Artoo and the other objects fall.>

Y: Hmm. Control. Control. You must learn control.

L: I saw, I saw a city in the clouds.

Y: Hmm. Friends you have there.

L: They were in pain.

Y: It is the future you see.

L: The future?

Y: <Nods>

L: Will they die?

Y: <Screwing up his eyes> Difficult to see. Always in motion is the future.

L: I’ve gotta go to them.

Y: Decide you must how to help them best. If you leave now you could, but you will destroy all for which they have fought and suffered.

L: <Nods>

Not much, but Yoda’s reference to seeing "old friends long gone" is interesting. Is this the only reference in the OT to the characters being introduced in the new films? They’re "long gone?" Dead? Luke thinks Yoda’s referring to Han and Leia, but is he? After all, they aren’t "long gone."