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The Empire Strikes Back - a general Random Thoughts thread — Page 5

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Thanks guys. I enjoyed the Rebel Scum fan film, and memories of the Jedi Knight game came back to me as soon as I found a YouTube walkthrough on the level! I’ll keep an eye out for #78 comic as well.

I did a bit of looking around myself on the books and found there are a few Hoth and post-Hoth battle stories in the “Certain Point Of View” book for ESB, and I’ll get a copy of that soon too. Thanks again.

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I like that there’s a snake in Luke’s X-Wing before he leaves Dagobah.

Move along, move along.

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 (Edited)

I recently heard someone make the argument that, from what’s implied in dialogue in ANH, the Empire shouldn’t be able to maintain its control of the galaxy without either the Senate or the Death Star. A lot of Tarkin’s dialogue points to this idea that the Empire needs the fear of the Death Star to keep control of its subject systems. With that in mind, and given how ANH ends, if ESB had opened by telling us “The Empire is falling apart after the loss of the Death Star,” that would have been an equally valid path for the story to take.

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And people say Death Star II doesn’t make sense…

Star Wars, Paleontology, Superhero, Godzilla fan. Darth Vader stan. 22. ADHD. College Student majoring in English Education.
My Star Wars Fan-Edits

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G&G-Fan said:

And people say Death Star II doesn’t make sense…

DS2 is one of those things that comes off as repetitive to the audience, but makes sense within the universe.

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If only Lucas had foreseen how profitable the '77 film was going to be. Then he could’ve saved the Death Star run for the third movie. Alas…

“The simultaneous existence of opposite virtues in the soul — like pincers to catch hold of God.”

― Simone Weil

“Reality is the original Rorschach.”

― Malaclypse the Younger

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Vader: “If you only knew the power of the dark side! Obi-Wan never told you what happened to your father.”

I get so wrapped up in how iconic each line is individually that sometimes I forget to think of how they inform each other. The latter is obviously Vader leading up to revealing that he’s Luke father, and it’s proceeded by him boasting how powerful the dark side is. The overall point he was trying to make is that the dark side is so powerful even he, a great Jedi Knight that Luke looked up to, fell for it. Implying that Anakin became Vader because he was power-hungry and loved the dark side’s power.

The OT implied a much more Walter White-esque turn then the one we ended up getting.

Star Wars, Paleontology, Superhero, Godzilla fan. Darth Vader stan. 22. ADHD. College Student majoring in English Education.
My Star Wars Fan-Edits

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Marooned Biker Scout said:

timdiggerm said:

This could almost fit into the small details thread, but I don’t think it’s particularly obscure.

I wonder why they (Kershner?) decided it was so important to make sure Lando demonstrated proper safety protocols by wearing a safety harness & clipping in when getting onto the Falcon’s roof and grabbing Luke under Cloud City. It’s also such a shame any shots of Lando actually on the roof of the Falcon grabbing Luke were cut.

That was strange. Were the film companies at the time doing some “safety” promo work for the government around that time? Obi-Wan and Luke were shown to to belt up in the Falcon in Star Wars too. I think there was an anti-smoking advert with threepio and R2 around the time as well?

And the old joke about Ewoks having handrails everywhere in ROTJ, so they were actually more advanced than the Empire!

Around 1978 in my market they would play an anti drinking and driving PSA on TV using film from the Cantina.

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I don’t always listen to Rebel Force Radio, but I tuned in to today’s show and learned there was apparently an alien guard for Cloud City that never made it into the final movie. The EU named him “Utris M’Toc.”

Move along, move along.

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of_Kaiburr_and_Whills said:

I don’t always listen to Rebel Force Radio, but I tuned in to today’s show and learned there was apparently an alien guard for Cloud City that never made it into the final movie. The EU named him “Utris M’Toc.”

Glad he got the cut. He looks like one of those lame rubber forehead aliens from TNG.

“The simultaneous existence of opposite virtues in the soul — like pincers to catch hold of God.”

― Simone Weil

“Reality is the original Rorschach.”

― Malaclypse the Younger

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Man, I remember that guy… There was a CCG card on him. I bought a lot of Cloud City packs when I found a place 20 years ago still selling them. A blast from the past.

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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Superweapon VII said:

Glad he got the cut. He looks like one of those lame rubber forehead aliens from TNG.

After Utris failed to get the part in Star Wars, he auditioned for Star Trek where things went much better for him.

Move along, move along.

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of_Kaiburr_and_Whills said:

I don’t always listen to Rebel Force Radio, but I tuned in to today’s show and learned there was apparently an alien guard for Cloud City that never made it into the final movie. The EU named him “Utris M’Toc.”

Hasbro made his action figure years ago.

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Superweapon VII said:
Glad he got the cut. He looks like one of those lame rubber forehead aliens from TNG.

He looks like the Traveller hahah

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Aren’t there schools on the Enterprise-D? I would’ve thought The Traveler couldn’t go within 1000 feet of one.

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So, a question. When Luke sees Han & Leia in pain, Yoda says “decide you must how to serve them best…” etc. Is this Yoda’s psychology to not have Luke meet Vader yet, even if it means the death of Luke’s friends? He says he doesn’t see if they die. But if they did, why would you say that you have to decide if to help your friends or let them die? Why would it matter, if Luke “destroys all for what they have fought and suffered” if he was to save his friends from death, isn’t that worth it? If Luke hadn’t gone, do you think Han and/or Leia would have died if Vader didn’t get what he wanted? What do you think?

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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In the end his friends are irrelevant to the bigger picture. He makes it clear that becoming an agent of evil is the worse scenario.

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Mocata said:

In the end his friends are irrelevant to the bigger picture. He makes it clear that becoming an agent of evil is the worse scenario.

Only if Yoda is certain about Luke’s turn and his inability to help. But why say “if you honor what they fight for” they should die, I don’t get that part. You can’t help people if you honor what they fight for? To make it clear, of course I do understand that Luke is not ready to confront Vader, but the way Yoda explains it to Luke doesn’t make sense to me.

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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Well his friends and their cause are two separate things. Until ROTJ anyway.

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LexX said:

Mocata said:

In the end his friends are irrelevant to the bigger picture. He makes it clear that becoming an agent of evil is the worse scenario.

Only if Yoda is certain about Luke’s turn and his inability to help. But why say “if you honor what they fight for” they should die, I don’t get that part. You can’t help people if you honor what they fight for? To make it clear, of course I do understand that Luke is not ready to confront Vader, but the way Yoda explains it to Luke doesn’t make sense to me.

you can help but you can’t interfere with their fight,cause it’s a fight they prepared a lifetime,it’s like you can’t change their destiny,which is to die for him so he will realise his importance…

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The way Darth Vader leans in so close when Han is being tortured always scares me. As if he’s savoring it.

To me, that comes off as it being personal. The guy doesn’t seem the type to care unless he does. Perhaps Vader recognizes Han as the one who sent him flying in ANH?

Star Wars, Paleontology, Superhero, Godzilla fan. Darth Vader stan. 22. ADHD. College Student majoring in English Education.
My Star Wars Fan-Edits

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G&G-Fan said:

Perhaps Vader recognizes Han as the one who sent him flying in ANH?

This is made explicit in the radio adaptation, and makes you wonder why similar dialogue wasn’t implemented in the movie. You kind of forget that Vader would probably be holding an enormous grudge against Captain Solo.

JFS

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I was thinking about the dinner scene on Cloud City. It’s a great, iconic scene - Han and Leia casually walk into the dining room, believing everything is okay, only to see Vader just sitting there at the head of the table.

But like… it’s one of those things that makes very little sense if you think about it. What was the point of staging the dinner? Why didn’t Vader simply arrange for Stormtroopers to come to Han/Leia’s hotel room and just arrest them there? Why the elaborate ruse? Presumably, the Empire already had control of the entire city even before Han and Leia arrived, so the subterfuge just seems unnecessary.

Also, I wonder what happened after Vader disarms Han… did they actually sit and eat dinner? (In earlier drafts, apparently, they did actually sit and eat dinner… not sure how they depict Vader eating, or if he refrains from eating.)

BedeHistory731 said:

Aren’t there schools on the Enterprise-D? I would’ve thought The Traveler couldn’t go within 1000 feet of one.

Obviously, the Traveler manipulated space and time to remove himself from Starfleet’s Interdimensional Sex Offender Registry database.

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Channel72 said:

I was thinking about the dinner scene on Cloud City. It’s a great, iconic scene - Han and Leia casually walk into the dining room, believing everything is okay, only to see Vader just sitting there at the head of the table.

But like… it’s one of those things that makes very little sense if you think about it. What was the point of staging the dinner? Why didn’t Vader simply arrange for Stormtroopers to come to Han/Leia’s hotel room and just arrest them there? Why the elaborate ruse? Presumably, the Empire already had control of the entire city even before Han and Leia arrived, so the subterfuge just seems unnecessary.

This doesn’t have any effect on the plot though. If it happened like you described nothing changes.

But an attempt at a logical answer, the dinner scene is more confined. Vader on one end, the troops on a more open end. If they tried to enter through the room, only one person can enter at a time, so the troopers will be bottlenecked. I guess you can argue Vader could capture them himself. However, there’s potential escape routes. Maybe there’s a way to get under the floor, another room that leads to another. Our hotel rooms have fire escapes and such. Hell, Han and Leia would probably be willing to risk jumping out the window over being captured by Vader. Worst case they’re dead, worst case with Vader, they’re tortured and forced to extract information about the alliance and then killed (“They didn’t even ask any questions”).

Star Wars, Paleontology, Superhero, Godzilla fan. Darth Vader stan. 22. ADHD. College Student majoring in English Education.
My Star Wars Fan-Edits