Smoking Lizard said:
yotsuya said:
As for Mon Mothma, they don’t really need to explain anything.
For the story to make sense and not be sloppy writing like the prequels and TFA, they do.
She appears to be on the 4th moon of Yavin in RO and she was not there by the time the Millenium Falcon landed. There is quite a bit of time in between that includes the Emperor disolving the Senate and the destruction of Alderaan, not to mention the success of the the plot to steal the Death Star plans.
Where is she during the attack on the Death Star? It’s the Rebellion’s most crucial hour and she’s leading some futile protest of the dissolution of the Senate?
Never mind the fact that according to the original ROTJ script, Mon Mothma was never mentioned as being a member of the Imperial Senate.
Where was she during the medal ceremony? Luke, Han, Chewie, and, I suppose Wedge, just saved the entire galaxy and the entire Rebellion and she’s not present?
Where was she on Hoth?
She likely couldn’t just hide out at the rebel base and needed to get back to work.
Get back to work doing what?
In ROTJ there is no Senate for her to be a part of. In TESB she can easily be out trying to recruit others to the cause such as the Mon Calamari. And a reminder, if you know the story of ANH well at all, the Alliance had no idea there was going to be an attack in the Yavin system until the Millennium Falcon landed so it is silly to expect that all the important figures would be at the base at such a crucial time when no one had any idea it was crucial until the attack was imminent. And it seems they conducted the award ceremony immediately and she likely was unable to get back. As others have pointed out, when Palpatine dissolved the Senate, he may have taken the Senators hostage and if she was not in hiding (which she really had no reason to be just has Leia had no reason to be) they would have picked her up where ever she happened to be. She was a Senator so she was likely on Coruscant or her howeworld or in transit to one or the other (depending on travel times) and would be easy to find.
You are creating a problem where there is none and requiring an explanation for events that don’t need to be explained. It is not sloppy writing to fail to explain events that are outside of any need for explanation. ROTS established that Mon Mothma was a founding member of the Rebel Alliance so where she was during any particular event between there and ROTJ need not be explained. She is a politician and her best work for the Alliance would be to work within the Imperial Senate and work to gain more members of the Alliance. Those necessitate NOT being at a rebel base very often. Her role means her absence makes sense so explaining it is needless. I would say that the importance of the mission being carried out in Rogue One likely drove her to a Rebel base for the first time in a long time. I think the only explanation they need to give is why she is at the base at all, not whey she isn’t there later or at the Hoth base. As a serving Senator, she would not want to be caught at a rebel base or risk giving away its location except under extreme circumstances.