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something I always wondered about the PT — Page 2

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I remember playing SWG and the planets were only about sixteen kilometers by sixteen kilometers. Mos Eisley was about twenty minutes away from Mos Espa by speederbike.

Keep Circulating the Tapes.

END OF LINE

(It hasn’t happened yet)

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"If I lived on Tatooine I'd try to come up with something fun to do then, even though the podrace as a story element is boring and ridicilous and shouldn't exist just because of that."

You mean like bullseying (spelling?) womp rats with his T-16.

Unfortunately I think the real answer to the original post is poor decisions by GL when he made the special editions & prequels.

(someone needs to get OBIWAN37 in here to provide some balance!)

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 (Edited)

LexX said:

Interesting points.

I think some may forget that we are talking about planets here. Tatooine could be bigger than Jupiter all we know. It can have millions or even billions of towns small and large. If I lived middle of Sahara (okay, impossible) and thought it was the most boring place ever, it doesn't mean that there isn't anything else happening on the whole planet. If I knew there was one airport (spaceport) pretty close, it doesn't mean it's the only one on the whole planet. Even then, Mos Eisley could be a 10 hour ride away from Luke's home even at landspeeder speed, which could be a couple of thousand kilometers, who knows

And if there aren't any cool car races right now happening at my local town of 12 people... well, I'm pretty sure there are lots of races going on 24/7 here on Earth. If I lived on Tatooine I'd try to come up with something fun to do then, even though the podrace as a story element is boring and ridicilous and shouldn't exist just because of that.

The Jabba angle is pretty good, but then again, we don't have anything other to hold against the "Tatooine is a dead rock" comment than a young man who wants to be somewhere else than at his home.

Btw, I'm not defending PT or anything else at all here as I don't like the choices made either, just more to think about for your own imagination.

 Another casualty of the Biggs scenes being cut was the backstory that Luke and his friends race their Skyhoppers to alleviate the boredom. (Which was an update of Lucas' own young life as reflected in American Graffiti.)  Only Luke's statement in the Rebel briefing about shooting Womp Rats in his T-16 made the final cut.

Now if George really wanted to tie into the OT, Anakin should have been a Skyhopper racer. But the desire to do his own take on the chariot race from Ben Hur was too strong...

JEDIT:And drmurph beat me to it. ;)

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Where were you in '77?

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Erikstormtrooper said:

I just had a weird thought (a tad off topic) while thinking about the parallels between Episode I and SW (Ep IV).

Amidala is the MacGuffin of Episode I. She is the Death Star plans.

Now I have these hilariously bizarre images of Natalie Portman being forcibly stuffed into Artoo and her flattened body being projected onto a screen in my head.

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I don't particularly mind the fact that we return to Tattooine in ROTJ.  For the relatively small scale events that took place throughout the OT, it was nice to return to Luke's homeworld to juxtapose where he was in ANH, to how much he had changed come ROTJ.

And don't forget that Jabba was already closely linked to the planet in ANH.  The special edition Jabba scene was clearly in the original script, so Lucas had at least planned to set up that association.

Being a middle of nowhere rock is what made it so attractive to the gangsters and 'scum and villainy.'  So using the planet as a hideout for Jabba doesn't brother me.  But in TPM, it almost seems as if the Hutts are running a government, and that Mos Espa is a bustling city with a healthy economy, and prominent social scene, and some sort of governance by the Hutts, which contradicts everything that was said about the planet in the OT.  Jabba was gangster and a criminal, his palace was a hideout, and Tattooine was meant to house a few small space ports that thrive off of the criminal going-ons that take place there. Mos Espa completely ruins that.

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Thanks, guys. I never really thought of that. You've just given me ANOTHER reason to dislike the PT

I'd been debating buying them on Blu-Ray, but I realized I just don't enjoy them enough to spend the money on upgrading. This thread just reinforced my decision yet again :P

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drmurph said:

(someone needs to get OBIWAN37 in here to provide some balance!)

 Quoted for truth.

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That's like trying to balance out a feather with a Sherman Tank.

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I honestly didn't even think of this point....Tatooine should have been the last place Vader should have thought that one of his kids were hidden,....and Owen or Beri Lars should have been Bens relative

J

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It's a safe bet he thought they died with Padme. And he was unaware it was twins.

Episode III skirts the issue of how many people were in on the fake belly in the funeral ploy.

One could interpret Vader not going down to the planet himself to retrieve the plans as avoiding dealing with the past, but I doubt that was the plan in 1977. ;)

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Where were you in '77?

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Jabba ran the place because the Republic didn't give a tinker's cuss about Tatooine - that much is revealed in the script. By the time of A New Hope, the political situation was completely different. You had martial law and regional governors.

Why does this even need to be explained?

Oh, and the MacGuffin of The Phantom Menace is the blockade of Naboo, much trumpeted for its dull exposition in the opening crawl. It's merely a cover for the ascent of the Sith.

That's some bad hat, Harry
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According to that thread, nothing is a McMuffin.

 

SilverWook said:

Mos Eisely is a spaceport. Anchorhead was doughnut center, (what a hole)

Consider this your first warning.

LexX said:

I think some may forget that we are talking about planets here. Tatooine could be bigger than Jupiter all we know. It can have millions or even billions of towns small and large.

You're confusing Star Wars planets with actual planets.  Star Wars planets have one or two major cities on them, have only one climate, and are within spitting distance of each other. 

Actual planets would ruin the ability to tell fun space opera stories, methinks.

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"Yeah, well, George says a lot of things..." a young 1997 xhonzi on RASSM

"They're my movies." -George Lucas. 19 people won oscars for their work on Star Wars (1977) and George Lucas wasn't one of them.

Rewrite the Prequels!

 

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LexX said:

Tatooine could be bigger than Jupiter all we know.

A solid, rocky planet larger than Jupiter? Don't think that's possible -- from a real-world perspective, anyway.

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The gravity would be so strong that everyone living there would be crushed.

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hairy_hen said:

The gravity would be so strong that everyone living there would be crushed.

 Thats what I was thinking..pancake people

J

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DuracellEnergizer said:

LexX said:

Tatooine could be bigger than Jupiter all we know.

A solid, rocky planet larger than Jupiter? Don't think that's possible -- from a real-world perspective, anyway.

 Yeah, it would probably lead to humans evolving into small, child-sized creatures with high pitched voices just to negate the stronger gravity. Either that or large sluglike things that can hardly move.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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NeverarGreat said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

LexX said:

Tatooine could be bigger than Jupiter all we know.

A solid, rocky planet larger than Jupiter? Don't think that's possible -- from a real-world perspective, anyway.

 Yeah, it would probably lead to humans evolving into small, child-sized creatures with high pitched voices just to negate the stronger gravity. Either that or large sluglike things that can hardly move.

 Hmm, that explains both Jabba, and whiny young Anakin.

"Close the blast doors!"
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DuracellEnergizer said:

LexX said:

Tatooine could be bigger than Jupiter all we know.

A solid, rocky planet larger than Jupiter? Don't think that's possible -- from a real-world perspective, anyway.

 Well, there's sound in space etc. so real-world perspective is kinda out of the window anyways. It's just a thought for your own imagination, though.

And in the time of greatest despair, there shall come a savior, and he shall be known as the Son of the Suns.

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I don't consider the "sound in space" thing to be in-universe phenomenon, though.

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Sound in space is sometimes handwaved by creators as something that the ship's computer creates for the benefit of the pilots. I can buy that, I suppose...I mean, I'm already buying laser swords and FTL engines and a galaxy without paper.

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I'm pretty sure that the reason there's sound in space is for the benefit of the viewer. You know, to add excitement to the movie and all.

Now keeping Luke's last name as Skywalker with an "old wizard" called "Old Ben" Kenobi so close by when they're supposed to be hiding? Now that's pushing it. (I realize it wasn't originally quite like that until Empire and Jedi, but its an early example of Lucas' retconning without covering all his bases)

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Puggo - Jar Jar's Yoda said:

NeverarGreat said:

DuracellEnergizer said:

LexX said:

Tatooine could be bigger than Jupiter all we know.

A solid, rocky planet larger than Jupiter? Don't think that's possible -- from a real-world perspective, anyway.

 Yeah, it would probably lead to humans evolving into small, child-sized creatures with high pitched voices just to negate the stronger gravity. Either that or large sluglike things that can hardly move.

 Hmm, that explains both Jabba, and whiny young Anakin.

 ^LOL.

I like the Radio Drama retcon that the ships simulate battle noises in space, as it really makes sense when you think about it. A gunner would need all of their senses in order to orient themselves in a battle, especially considering the ships going in and out of their line of sight.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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Couldn't sound in space be explained with "science fantasy"? I hate the ship simulating noises explanation.

Here's what I'm wondering: Since it was known that Vader was Obi-Wan's apprentice but it wasn't known that Vader is Anakin, why didn't anybody wonder where Obi-Wan's other apprentice (Vader) was during the Clone Wars?