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This is sort of a follow-up to an old thread I once started here called "Talking to the Dead?". [I don't see it here anymore so it may have been deleted.] Anyway,
Having seen the new "Gold Leader" 3 3/4" action figure from Kenner/Hasbro prompted me to re-visit the Rebel Forces attack on Death Star I, otherwise known as "The Battle of Yavin" in Episode IV. I did this for the purpose of figuring (no pun intended) out how many Rebel pilots were seen in this legendary initiative. Here's the breakdown:
Red Squadron [X-Wings]
Red 1) [Red Leader?] ..."Dave"
Red 2) Wedge Antilles
Red 3) Biggs Darklighter
4) **
Red 5) Luke Skywalker
Red 6) Jek Porkins
Red 7) ?*
8)
Red 9) ?*
Red 10) Name Unknown?
Red 11) ?*
Gold Squadron [Y-Wings]
Gold 1) [Gold Leader?] ...Jon "Dutch" Vander
2) **
3) **
4) **
Gold 5)
6) **
7) **
8) **
9) **
10) **
Tiree = Gold 2?
Not to mention the Millenium Falcon (Han Solo & Chewbacca)
& Pink Five (Stacey from the Fan Film). I count her since this fan film was so cool. Ha, ha.
Now, one of the imperial officers in the Death Star reported to Vader that they counted 30 ships. I'll ASSUME his report was accurate. [Hey, would YOU want to give Vader an inaccurate report?] This in mind, not including the Falcon, there should have been 30 ships total. Now, for more notes:
I assume Red Leader & Gold Leader were Red 1 & Gold 1, respectively, since no one called out these numbers as their designations.
A total of 5 X-Wing pilots & 3 Y-Wing pilots were featured on-screen during the Battle of Yavin sequence. Voices were heard designating themselves as Red 7, 9 & 11 but not while they were on-screen. One of these "Red" call signs may have been the pilot with the Red Helmet who ultimately died in the battle. Despite the fact that a range of call signs trhough the number 11 were called, the call signs Red 4 & Red 8 were never called.
Gold 5 remained unnamed in the film. If ANYONE out there knows the character's assigned name, I'd be much obliged if you'd share it with us.
One of the 3 Y-Wing pilots seen was called "Tiree". I assume he's the pilot with red Rebel insignia on it shadowed by black. He may have been Gold 2.
Furthermore, at least 3 other (X-Wing?) pilots were seen in the Yavin Rebel Base before take-off wearing shiny (like new) white helmets with blue Rebel Alliance insignia. We can assume they were among the 30 ships sighted.
Yes, I'm anal retentive and YES this all may seem rather tedious & insignificant but, for a SW fan like me, it seems quite interesting. The facts tell me that Tiree (Gold 2?), Gold 5, Red 10 (whom we see but don't know his name) & Red Leader are yet to be made into standard Star Wars figures.
If I'm wrong about any of this information, I'd appreciate anyone's input / corrections. I'm not totally up on what toys have been coming out from Kenner / Hasbro & I'm not totally up on the character names released by Lucasfilm assigned to characters who we haven't known in years previous.
If we know for sure, however, that 8 of the ships were X-Wings (9 if we count Pink Five) & 3 of them were Y-Wings, I wonder what the ship breakdown was for the other 18 or 19.
Any (constructive / positive) feedback would be appreciated.
MTFBWY.
sidemachine
