References to the other Star Wars movies

I'm specifically talking here about characters or the opening crawl directly referring to events of the previous movies, not necessarily plotlines that span multiple movies (like Vader's redemption or Han's freezing in carbonite). For simplicity, I'm not including references in the OT to events in the PT, or vice versa, since I think those fall into a category all of their own. It's a rather rare phenomonon in SW, making the occasional appearance here and there. In terms of dialog and opening crawl, each movie might exist in a vacuum. For example, nowhere in the OT do characters mention Luke destroying the Death Star, no one talks about Yavin, Hoth, or really, any of the adventures they have. There are only a few cases I can think of off the top of my head: Vader's references to Obi-Wan dying, Han's "That's two you owe me" and "Now I owe you one", Luke's "promise to keep to an old friend", and Yoda's thoughts on what happened on Bespin. The opening crawl of ROTJ also mentions Han's encasement in carbonite, which is probably necessary to remind the audience and set up the events of Act I. Obviously, there can be nothing in ANH or TPM, since those were both "the first movie" of their time.

In the PT, we only have one movie to look at, but there's a bit more there. The figure of ten years, the time between TPM and AOTC, is mentioned a lot. Dooku mentions the Trade Federation crisis and Nute's alliance with Sidious. He also mention's Qui-Gon's death. Anakin reminisces about how he fell for Padme the moment he met her ("Are you an angel?").

So, why are there so few references, and why are there more in the PT (if, in fact, there are; as I said, I might be forgetting some in the OT)?

My thoughts:
First question: Lucas mentions in the AOTC DVD commentary that he's trying to make this movie part of one big saga, but at the same time he's trying to make each movie stand on its own. Therefore, he might be intenionally limiting the number of references like this, in order not to make each movie rely on all the others to have meaning.

Second question: When ANH was first created, it was intended to be a standalone movie, with some plot lines left open in the event that it made enough money and people wanted a sequel. When the rest of the OT was done, it too was designed as standalone. There was room for a prequel trilogy (especially with the "Episode IV" designation) but no guarantee of one. Now, with the PT, GL is opting for the unified approach. The SEs are designed to make the OT more cohesive with the PT (varying opinions on this notwithstanding), and with the advent of EU, even some of that is creeping into the PT, as well as GL working more closely with authors of the PT EU to make it fit. With this unified approach, he might want the movies of the PT to fit together more, to create the feeling of a single, uninterrupted six-movie saga. This would inlude more referencing, although still not to a point where the movies become overly reliant on each other (see point one).

Thoughts?

 

I think there's not a lot of referencing in each sequel because it tends to slow things down. Referencing is typically in the form of dialogue and GL seems like somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to talking because more dialogue=slower movie.

One reference scene you didn't mention was C3PO's story in the Ewok village.

 

In ESB:

Dak: Right now I feel like I could take on the whole Empire myself!
Luke: I know what you mean. (refering to Luke's adventures in ANH)

Yoda: This one a long time have I watched. All his life has he looked away... to the future, to the horizon. Never his mind on where he was. Hmm? What he was doing. Hmph! Adventure. Heh! Excitement. Heh! A Jedi craves not these things. You are reckless! (a perfect description of Luke on Tatooine)

And in ROTJ:

Han: How are we doing?
Luke: Same as always.
Han: That bad, huh?

I always loved that line, a sly comment on how Luke, Han and Leia are always getting into trouble.

Also,

Han: I love you.
Leia: I know (refering to their love pledge in ESB)