Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back is pretty widely accepted as one of the best sci-fi fantasies ever filmed, so it almost seems kind’ve unfair that it looks like it was also just a dang fun time to make. To celebrate 40(!) years of Empire, GMA released a pretty lengthy behind-the-scenes video from the film, featuring uber-rare and never-before-seen footage as well as commentary from key players like George Lucas, Mark Hamill, and Billy Dee Williams. It is, simply put, the most delightful thing you’re going to watch today.

“Three years later, everyone comes back to work and everybody’ more enthusiastic than they were the first time,» Lucas says in the video. «The first time everybody is sort of confused by the whole thing and didn’t know what they were up against. Now they had a better picture of what we were making.

There’s a lot to love here even if you’re not a massive Star Wars fan, from the stop-motion sets that brought the iconic Hoth battle to life to Hamill practicing his lightsaber skills in an aggressively 1970s pair of jeans. Also, shout-out to the parallels between the debut of Empire Strikes Back and modern fandom. “Coming back for the second film, I think the audience, they were so surprised it wasn’t just a carbon copy of Star Wars,» Hamill says. «I think that’s what really made it distinctive.”