Rouge One screenwriter Gary Whitta said:
I thought having Evazan and Walrus Man was a little too much.
I very much agree.
And about the “transmissions vs. Data Tapes” debate, it make sense to me that both happened. They beamed the plans via “several transmissions” and then the crew downloaded that data onto tapes. Maybe I’m missing something (I’ve only seen R1 once), but I don’t see any problems there.
I think they’re just letting us know they paid attention and have love for Star Wars (1977) - also reminding people who may have forgotten that both instances are mentioned in it (have seen a few threads out on other boards where people say Rogue One messed up because the death star plans were transmissions - and not data tapes, and also the reverse)…