ImperialFighter

I'd have been happy with that one too, as it's just as 'snappy', and certainly fitted just as well, although I like this variation better - 

'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Gods'

LOL.  ;)

I personally love the Director's Cut edit, but really despise the poor quality of print that was transferred to DVD after Robert Wise's excellent tweaks.  If there is some general cleaning-up, and a re-do of the added elements for High Definition DVD eventually, then I'd be delighted.

In the meantime, I'm very curious to see what's being intended for the 'Fan Edited' version....

I remember really liking the 'Indiana Jones' logo appearing in 'Temple of Doom'.  I love interesting movie-typefaces, and wish it been used for ALL of them!

By the way, I really wish this latest entry had been less of a mouthful, and been simply called either 'Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull' OR 'Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of Skulls', to make it 'snappier' like the other 3 titles.... 

doubleofive said:

I'm still not WILD about a longer version...  Admittedly, I've only seen the Director's Cut, so I don't know what's missing.  I'm more excited to see the Fan Edit of it.

This seems like an excellent project, with all these additional extras, and I'll join you in being very excited to see what can be done with the Fan Edit of this eventually....

Sevb32 said:

Ok, faint panels, but they aren't consistant with the other shots. They are easy to see when Vader is standing on the gantry, not so when they are dueling. Maybe they could be brightened or darkened? One or the other, as long as they are consistant in all the shots.

Okay, I've just logged onto a local 'public access' computer out of curiosity, as this place has been kitted out with Dell LCD monitors throughout, in the past couple of years. 

I'm really surprised at how different the shots of Vader and Luke 'duelling' in the middle of the 'gantry, look! (and therefore ALL shots that Adywan has ever previewed in the past, will be equally different too)  The colouring is SO DARK on these monitors, compared to my own.  What I'm seeing on the Dell ones, are totally black areas instead of the various lovely detail and nuances that I can see on my own one (Hewlett-Packard just for the record).  I'm sure lots of different people are getting different colours, depending on the different monitors they are using, and the way they are adjusted.  However, this is a radically-different colouration to mine, that I'm seeing here, just now.  

And where this particular 'Revisited' shot looked wonderfully vibrant on mine, it is missing a lot of it's glory on this monitor.  (by the way the SE DVD comparison shot beside it is equally black on this Dell too, so the dark areas just look identical on them both)  For instance, on mine I can see Adywan's improved shot has a very definate vibrant ORANGE for the 'horizontal' lights that wrap around the 'surrounding wall' background, but on here they still seem very RED.  The whole colouration information looks muted too, compared to my own monitor, unfortunately.

Unless it's MY monitor that is showing a false colouration, I reckon a few folks like Sevb32 might not be getting a true indication of just how good Adywan's finished shots are going to look.  This is true of any eventual TV / DVD set-up that you watch the finished thing on, too, of course.  For instance, I've had a look at how 'Star Wars:Revisited' (the exact same copy) appears on several different TV models now, and while wonderful on all of them, the good, well-set up ones blew me away with just how vibrantly colourful the final version can be.

In the meantime, ALL the shots I'm seeing previewed for 'Empire:Revisited' look tremendous on my own monitor, and I know the eventual DVD will seem even better.

By the way, looking at the last couple of pages on this 'public access' computer here, it seems some to the shots posted previously are not showing....  One of the missing ones is the 'Vader talking to Luke at the end of the gantry' comparison shot, that I posted on the previous page (255), yet the immediate following post that I made after that (which shows the 'duelling' shot and the ION Cannon comparisons) ARE showing okay.  Strange, as the first ones were definately showing on mine a couple of hours ago, when I last looked. 

The ones that are no longer showing, just have a grey box with a tiny white square in the corner, which has a red 'x' in the middle.  I'm curious to know if Adywan and others here can see ALL these particular posted shots okay, or if it's just a quirk of this particular 'public access' browser, or not....

Sevb32, I was meaning the 'duelling' shot.  The 5 panels in total are darker than the SE comparison shot, but that's because it looks like Adywan's done some work on the shadowing of that whole 'floor' area.  You must have a particularly dark monitor screen if you can't see them even on the SE version.  Perhaps you can compare the shots on someone else's sometime. 

Don't worry about it, the DVD will look even better than these screenshots, and the 5 panels will be definately be visible.

adywan said:

Some new shots...

as for the blockade i will be adding a couple of extra stardestroyers to the initial approach and a disabled stardestroyer in the background during Lukes escape but what i was saying was that Luke could easily slip away unchallenged because its just one fighter and a transport did leave just before he escaped so any remaining stardestroyers (which would only be one or two at the most) would be concentrating on the larger ships, so no need to add loads of stardestroyers for that scene. After all Luke is going in a completely different direction than the rebels so he most likely leaves in the opposite direction so you wouldn't see all the disabled stardestroyers which seem to concentrate above the rebel base on the other side of the planet. When the rebel transport escapes the stardestroyer is now firing upon the ships and destroys one x-wing and after the stardestroyer is disabled you see the transport and remaining x-wing jump to hyperspace.

Adywan, I've added this below the post I just made, as a quick comparison to do with that 'gantry' structure thing.  But I've been meaning to say a couple of things about this recent follow-up post of yours anyway -

Firstly, I just wanted to say that having considered your latest thoughts here about this whole Hoth 'blockade' sequence, that I absolutely 'get' your reasoning about the possible immediate actions that Vader takes at the end of the AT-AT battle, as soon as he sees the Millennium Falcon get away from him at the Rebel Base.  And I also agree that this rag-tag Rebel group are NOT actually his main priority at that moment, because he has a far bigger 'agenda' in mind....  And I can see how he would probably concentrate his efforts, AND those of his 'Fleet' Admiral / and Stardestroyer Commanders too, on solely focusing immediately on continuing to go after the Falcon (where he believes Luke is aboard, again), using the current available 'Fleet' Stardestroyers at his disposal to do so.  Luke, and his potential capabilities ARE the most important matter he focuses on, during 'Empire'....  And that's what the introductory 'scroll' suggests too.

So I certainly see how your explanation about why there is probably an easier, straight-forward passage for Luke off the Hoth Planet at this point, makes perfect sense -  either Vader orders every single one of his Stardestroyers to forget the 'blockade' immediately, once he just misses the Falcon....OR he orders the odd one or two to 'mop up' whatever Rebel remnants they can, while he returns to the 'Executor' as quickly as possible, to re-join the search....  And either way, there will be a lot of unattended 'sectors' that Luke and any remaining others, can go off in, as the remainer of the NON-disabled 'Fleet' (which wasn't comprised of a huge number to begin with) is being immediately taken up with Vader's on-going pursuit elsewhere, now....

That certainly works for me.  I've been one of those who have been hopeful that you would incorporate a bit MORE 'Fleet'action / numbers along the way in the past, but as far as when we get to the point where Vader sees the Falcon escape, I wouldn't want you to feel you should add something extra to the mix here that you really didn't originally intend to.  I see you've confirmed that you WILL put some evidence of a disabled Stardestroyer in somewhere during Luke's departure, for him to 'get past safely', and I personally really like the idea of that in ANY shape or manner.  But although I like the concept in general, I do agree it's certainly not a 'must-have' now, because his routes for 'escape' are pretty open-ended now, if we accept the idea behind Vader's immediate next moves when the Falcon gets away.... 

However, it will ALSO certainly be an equally straight-forward 'alternative answer' for the ease of Luke's departure for some, as well as giving a little 'something extra' of interest, visually....so all-in-all, I'm VERY pleased that you are including something along these lines, after all.  Where you decide to place it is not important, as your own judgement is normally so good, part of the fun for me will be eventually seeing where YOU decided to place it, and in what direction, and with what 'movement', if any....  :)

Of course, whatever you decide to do, or not do with the 'Fleet' up until the Falcon escapes, will be interesting to see too!

Onto other things - 

Sevb32 recently thought that 4 'squares' on the 'gantry' floor weren't there anymore.  Well Sevb32, you'll be glad to know that I can see all 5 panels present and correct on my monitor, albeit the shadowing has been nicely improved on that end section, altogether.

gavin77 recently thought I was referring to a 'pre-electrical energy sound' to go with the new electrical ION Cannon blasts....  No. What I was asking, was if Adywan planned on incorporating a subtle hint of a 'build-up' of actual 'arcing electricity' around part of the ION Cannon as it prepared to fire?  And also, if he'd be putting a little of any corresponding 'glow' reflection on the ION Cannon and snow perhaps?  Both of these were very nicely done in the 'mock-up' that vaderious came up with a while ago, and I thought a subtle hint of both would add even more excellence to Adywan's version too.

Adywan, like a few others here, I would really be interested to know what your reasoning was for removing the small, 'distant' Rebel Turret Gun from your excellent ION Cannon shot? -  I always liked it in the way it helped the look of the 'composition' in the shot I thought, and was a good point of reference as far as sense of 'scale' was concerned, as we got to know what a 'real-sized' Turret Gun looked like.  I notice you actually removed a section of the snow 'build-up' at the front base of the Cannon too, along with the whole 'ridge' that was there in the foreground....  I'd have thought that could have still looked great, and would have blended perfectly well with the new 'mountains' in the background.  That's just a trivial thing, and it still looks great, but I'm really curious about your beef with that Turret Gun....  I noticed that DuTwan reckoned he'd never noticed the Turret before, but could totally understand why it was removed.  Maybe he knows your reason, but I don't understand it yet.  I hope you'll let us in on that.  Did you just think it was located in a position that it shouldn't have been?

I see it looks like you are going for definate ORANGE 'horizontal' lines along the surrounding 'Vane' wall, instead of the red option then?  Great stuff!

And I want to echo what was said about the Vader helmet that is seen now.  Looks fantastic! 

Finally, I'd also REALLY like for you to answer those few questions that were recently posed by TheBoost on page 253.  Fingers crossed for that.  :)

Adywan, here's a little extra thing to do with the 'gantry' / 'background' sequence -

In the recent 'duel' shot you previewed, the right-hand section that 'sticks out' from the side of the structure at the very end of the 'gantry', seems to be slightly too close to the rest of it, compared to all the other shots it features in....

The section I'm referring to is seen behind Luke when he steps onto the 'circular' section of the overall structure.  It has a 'rocket-booster'-shaped 'cone' piece at the base of it, which wrongly overlaps the 'circular' section in the 'duel' shot.  In all the other shots (such as the ones shown above), this 'cone' piece is instead positioned very close to the 'circular' section (with a very slight gap between them), and ends just very slightly below it.  ('Freezing' the shot where Vader slices through the 3 'posts' is the best place to see this)

This is no biggie, but since it's a 'fixed-camera' shot, it might be a nice adjustment for you to make. 

Monroville said:

ImperialFighter said:

Monroville, I've just realised that your recent 'additional Stardestroyers' suggestions (which tie-in nicely with the 'Fleet approaching Hoth' shot that appears just a little before), did not mention anything about this 'interior' shot, which has been confirmed as being the inside of Captain Lennox's 'Tyrant' Stardestroyer.

I think this was brought up @ 30 to 40 pages ago (its been a while), but my suggestion then was simply put the captain at the FRONT of the bridge as opposed to the side.  Thus, you delete the 2 side guys and replace them with more windows.  You could also rejigger the window the captain is in front of to make it identical in shape to the one Vader looks out of, if need be (you may need to add a bit more of a curve to the window shapes too).  Regardless, this should be an easy fix to keep it a view out the front as opposed to the side of the Tyrant SD.

REPLY -  Ah, I must have missed seeing that at the time, as I don't remember anyone describing that.  So you'd like it to be changed to look like the FRONT of the 'Bridge' then.  I reckon quite a few thought it was meant to be the front of the 'Bridge' over the years , because the Hoth Planet's positioning, and the very slight 'movement' could have given them that impression. (I love how you say it's an 'easy' fix to do that by the way.  Really?  It could be neat if it could be done seamlessly)  Interesting to hear someone else's take on that shot, but I'm still also content to lose that particular Hoth Planet view myself, and keep it as a SIDE, NON-Bridge window area, potentially showing a little of the rest of the 'Fleet' somewhere there, with just a hint of the Planet now, seeing as we see plenty of better Hoth Planet views anyway.

   

Should there be any kind of hint of Hoth's 'Moons' / or neighbouring 'Planets'? added to any of the other Hoth Planet shots, from the different angles that we see, do you think? -    

In regards to the "moons of Hoth", I would either add them in all of the scenes showing Hoth but no moons, or just delete them and make Hoth a moonless planet.  Either way to retain continuity.

REPLY -  Agreed, I'm all for 'continuity' where possible.  I'm on the side of adding them in this case, rather than removing any, if it seems right in any instances....but happy to take what Adywan decides, regardless.

By the way Monroville, although I've now come round to being quite happy to see the existing shot of the 'single Stardestroyer over Hoth' kept, if Adywan chooses to do so (especially with his better colouration)....I'm still going to show my 2 favourite ALTERNATIVE variations for the shot (which lasts approx. 2 seconds), that I'd happily see also, but with a couple of additional comments about some changes -    

One thing to keep in mind with this sequence is the time duration as well as the music score.  Remember that when this shot happens (right before the top image where captain what's-his-face says: "Good.  Our first catch of the day") you have the EMPIRE march playing fast (to indicate the adrenaline of first contact with the Empire and Rebels) and the visual only lasts maybe 1.5 to 2 seconds.  The above JEDI scene (with the SD moving over us as Vader's shuttle leaves towards the DS-2) lasts a bit longer at 4 to 6 seconds.  If anything I would keep the single Star Destroyer, but maybe do these alterations:

(1) bring it closer to the screen and show it moving/slightly sliding away and to the lower right as Hoth grows slightly bigger to help indicate the Tyrant has increased speed away from the rest of the fleet to intercept the first rebel transport.  The extra bit of added movement should compliment the music in this scene nicely.

(2) in the scene on the bridge (again, just remove the 2 guys on the right and replace them with more windows), again show Hoth slowly getting bigger with maybe a flash (extremely small, but to indicate the rebel transport taking off as well as the shield being opened) and then a slightly moving dot to indicate the RT already moving towards the Tyrant.

(3) this way it would segway nicely with the following shot after the ion cannon scenes, where we now see the rebel transport and escorts in the middle of the screen moving towards us/ the foreground.   This way we can see what the Tyrant's captain is making a comment on and it links the movement in the Tyrant bridge scene to the following RT and escorts with the ion beam shooting overtop of them.

I also concur on switchng the "Tyrant approaching Hoth" SD with the SD "under the Executor".

REPLY -  The 'alternative' shots are indicating how much either Stardestroyer moves during the approx. 2 seconds that they could potentially replace.  They show the very start of the shot, and the very end of the shot in both cases.  I did mention the 'JEDI' one is the very last 2 seconds of what is originally an approximately 18 seconds long shot of it in total.  That end of it happens to be my favourite bit of the element, where we see the 'dome' detail underneath, as it passes.

 

When the introductory 'scroll' ends, and we 'pan down' to the single Stardestroyer dispatching 'Probes', we can see two brown 'Planets' (or 'Moons'?), one big one, and a small one.  We can also see a blue 'Planet' (is this the same one that's seen during Luke's departure from Hoth?), which is a medium-sized one compared to the other two.

It's difficult to judge how far the 'Probe' travels from the Stardestroyer that launches it, but these 'Planets' (or 'Moons') could be in a somewhat nearby proximity of the Hoth Planet too, which reinforces the notion that some extra nearby / or distant elements such as these, could be added to one or two of the other Hoth Planet 'angles' that we see....  There seems to be an abundance of these in the vicinity of the Hoth Planet, overall.

Well, I always thought that the SD in the very beginning (the post-scroll SD) was extremely far away from Hoth, and that the other probots were travelling at hyperspace until they detected a semi-habited world off the beaten path, crash-land, pop out and investigate.  You would still have to either add some moons to the shot showing the probot right before atmospheric entry or delete the moons from the later shots.

Ady: have you considered spicing up the background behind the post-scroll SD?  Considering the similarity between the appearance of Hoth, Dagobah and Bespin (which I think is the one that could be played with the most), maybe you could replace the rather boring backdrop with something else - a nebula or something.  There are plenty of Hubble images to pull from.

REPLY -  I'm always in 2 minds about just how close to the vicinity of the Hoth Planet, that Stardestroyer is in the first place....  I don't think it's right beside it, but it could be in sight of it....

I remember seeing that Adywan doesn't like the idea of messing about with the 'Star Wars'-like 'starfields' too much.  I'd prefer not to see them messed with too much either.

 

Going back to that screenshot above , it comes approx. 55 seconds (and I always look on it as 'real-time') after we last saw the Falcon blast away from the Rebel Base -  just something to think about Adywan, but would we perhaps still see a small 'Hoth Planet' element receding away somewhere in the distance behind?  (the Falcon and the 'Avenger' might have 'veered-away' from a direct 'line-of-sight', at some point during this intervening time, of course.  Who knows?)  But if you DO look on them as having taken a roughly 'line-of-site' route from where the Falcon blasted off from....do you think it would be good to STILL see a hint of it during the shot?

I agree with you here Imp Fighter: to actually see Hoth receding in the background (and have the stars slowly moving towards the back to help give both the Falcon and the SD some increased sense of speed), as well as the rest of the Imperial Fleet would be a fantastic visual (again, keep the Imp Fleet either in the middle ground or background, being that Vader and the rest of the troops would have needed a good 30 minutes to an hour to regroup, board transports and land on their respective ships, while the Avenger and 2 other SDs would have had the opportunity to immediately chase after the Falcon).

It would connect it with the Falcon's escape from Hoth and show an immediacy to the progression of events

Also, I would consider brightening/whitening the Falcon a little bit, to help it look more like the whitish-brown version in ANH but moreso to help it stand out from the similarly greyish SD behind it.

 

REPLY -  I don't know how far from the Hoth Planet (and the rest of the 'Fleet') Adywan will judge the Falcon to be, at this point, but we'll see.  I like the idea of trying to 'differentuate' the colour of the Falcon element, from the Stardestroyer a little more in this shot. 

Thanks for those interesting answers Monroville.  I've commented on a couple of things along the way once again.

By the way, I noticed that you know how to link comments / photos from DIFFERENT posts....  ;)

I'll come back to this shot above, at the end of this post *

Firstly, in addition to my recent post regarding the possibility of showing a hint of 'Moons' / or neighbouring 'Planets' in any of the other various Hoth Planet shots that we see -  I'd forgotten about a couple of other shots at the very start of 'Empire', that might be relevant to this issue, and which it would be worth having screenshots of, to refer to here -

When the introductory 'scroll' ends, and we 'pan down' to the single Stardestroyer dispatching 'Probes', we can see two brown 'Planets' (or 'Moons'?), one big one, and a small one.  We can also see a blue 'Planet' (is this the same one that's seen during Luke's departure from Hoth?), which is a medium-sized one compared to the other two.

It's difficult to judge how far the 'Probe' travels from the Stardestroyer that launches it, but these 'Planets' (or 'Moons') could be in a somewhat nearby proximity of the Hoth Planet too, which reinforces the notion that some extra nearby / or distant elements such as these, could be added to one or two of the other Hoth Planet 'angles' that we see....  There seems to be an abundance of these in the vicinity of the Hoth Planet, overall.

Also , we see yet another good-sized portion of the Hoth Planet (and the space around it), at the point where we see a 'close-up' of the 'Probe' heading towards it, before it starts to burn up in the atmosphere.

If someone could post a screenshot of each of these particular examples for the sake of reference , to go along with the rest of the examples I posted on this page, I'd appreciate it.  In the meantime, I'll just add this link to one of ladyferry's YouTube clips, which shows them at exactly 1 minute 57 seconds in, and 2 minutes 20 seconds in, respectively -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4Hm1QTjF-k

* Going back to that screenshot above , it comes approx. 55 seconds (and I always look on it as 'real-time') after we last saw the Falcon blast away from the Rebel Base -  just something to think about Adywan, but would we perhaps still see a small 'Hoth Planet' element receding away somewhere in the distance behind?  (the Falcon and the 'Avenger' might have 'veered-away' from a direct 'line-of-sight', at some point during this intervening time, of course.  Who knows?)  But if you DO look on them as having taken a roughly 'line-of-site' route from where the Falcon blasted off from....do you think it would be good to STILL see a hint of it during the shot? 

Bingowings said:

The problem is that unless Ady builds a very big AT-AT head model there just isn't enough window to show any detail inside.

There also isn't that much light coming from the cockpit.

To illustrate this point I put Vaderious' interior shot roughly in scale into the window slit of this quite close shot of the head (bear in mind it hasn't been adjusted for shade and it hasn't got window glass and the interior shot is still too big).

You can hardly see a thing.

I'm really glad you showed this Bingowings. 

I've got to admit, although this 'close-up' shot doesn't last very long, I'd be more than happy to see the little detail you've added-in here!  When taken in conjunction with the rest of the 'interior' cockpit footage we see, I think something like this works well enough on a subtle, 'subliminal' level. 

It would just be neat to notice that there's something showing in this particular shot's 'cockpit'.... (especially on repeat viewings....), and to me, it's already given it an improved sense of 'scale'.  I actually like this a lot!  :)

As far as the other , slightly further away 'close-up' of the AT-AT head that blows-up, that is so briefly seen before the explosion occurs, that it hardly matters.  But again, it might be nice to know there's a little 'something' in there (instead of the current 'fake-snow'-filled slit).  I guess that could just have two AT-AT Drivers in there? 

Monroville, I've just realised that your recent 'additional Stardestroyers' suggestions (which tie-in nicely with the 'Fleet approaching Hoth' shot that appears just a little before), did not mention anything about this 'interior' shot, which has been confirmed as being the inside of Captain Lennox's 'Tyrant' Stardestroyer.

(It comes immediately after the 'single Stardestroyer over Hoth' shot, which I've always presumed is meant be the the exterior of the same ship - which would be the 'Tyrant')

However, Adywan has now confirmed he intends to add a 'couple' of extra Stardestroyers into the 'Fleet approaching Hoth' shot (so there'd now be 5 'standard' Stardestroyers' seen, if indeed 2 are added), and this throws up a few various possibilities for the view seen from the 'interior' SIDE-windows, depending on where the additional ships might be placed....  So in light of this, and your recent suggestions that I liked, here's one possible description of how this 'interior' shot could perhaps look now, which I prefer to any of my previous 'mock-up' suggestions for it, that I've posted in the past -  

While I still believe the current shot showing the Hoth Planet element seen through the 'windows' is unfortunately very wrong , I now prefer the idea that this 'interior' would remain a SIDE-view on the LEFT-hand side of the 'Tyrant'. (The existing very slight 'forward motion' during the shot, certainly gives this impression)

The current 'Fleet approaching Hoth' shot shows the 'foremost' Stardestroyer (presumably the 'Tyrant') in the distance, to the right of the 'Executor' and the others....so perhaps by this point, we'd now see only the 'starfield' through the MIDDLE window, while through the LEFT window only , we'd see that Captain Lennox is looking out at a couple of the other 'standard' Stardestroyers there, that are approx. the same distance away on his LEFT-side, as is shown in the 'approach' shot (they would be seen 'side-onwards', coming into the LEFT window only, but might not necessarily include showing the 'Executor' which may have hung back a little), and there'd also be just a hint of the Hoth Planet's 'curve' showing now, that would be seen in a portion of the RIGHT window only , behind Captain Lennox's back (either at the very bottom , except reversed....OR placed at a DIFFERENTLY - positioned 'curve' further up in the RIGHT window, giving the impression the ships are pointed more at the middle of Hoth, rather than positioned 'over' it....  Personally, I can view the angle of the current 'single Stardestroyer over Hoth' shot as being either way!), to help indicate a little 'forward motion' towards it still, as the Planet moves a little more into the RIGHT window.... 

Anyway, just a final thought on that for completion's sake Monroville, and I'd be interested to hear your and other's (especially Adywan's of course!, although I won't expect to at this point) own preferred layout for the 'window' shot too....but I guess it's all dependant on whether the 'Tyrant' is still indicated to be the 'foremost' Stardestroyer by Adywan or not, which is dictated by where he places his extra additions....  However, if there were to be additional Stardestroyers shown in the actual 'single Stardestroyer over Hoth' shot itself, it could even be argued that the 'interior' shot was cutting to the inside of one of these new additional ones now, which is meant to represent the 'Tyrant' instead....if that's what Adywan wishes to imply with his new layout!   (Ouch!, my head hurts again....)

At this point Adywan, I'd like go back to the 'Fleet approaching Hoth' shot that is shown in my previous post, and mention the 'Moons'/ blue 'Planet'? , that are seen in this shot shown below , that comes at the end of the AT-AT battle.  (Note: just ignore the speculative Stardestroyer elements that were added to these next 2 shots at the time, at my request)  If you look at the 'Fleet approaching Hoth' shot, you'll see there is either a 'Moon' or a 'Planet' behind the Hoth Planet.  It seems quite WHITE in the SE, but is this meant to be the blue 'Moon' or 'Planet' in the distance, at the bottom of the frame in the shot below?  Also, on the previous 'approach' shot shown above, we can see a definate little white 'dot' just above the front of the 'Executor's' front prow.  It is there for the duration of the shot, and seems to indicate a 'Moon'....  If it's not meant to be that, then it would be better removed, as it is in front of the area of the Hoth Planet that is in shadow....  I'll let you be the final judge on these decisions, but the point I'd like to emphasise is this -  Should there be any kind of hint of Hoth's 'Moons' / or neighbouring 'Planets'? added to any of the other Hoth Planet shots, from the different angles that we see, do you think? -    

....and I'm just including this other view below too, for additional reference, so that all the Hoth Planet shots are nearby to scroll up and down....  (again, ignore the Stardestroyer element that was added at the time) - 

By the way Monroville, although I've now come round to being quite happy to see the existing shot of the 'single Stardestroyer over Hoth' kept, if Adywan chooses to do so (especially with his better colouration)....I'm still going to show my 2 favourite ALTERNATIVE variations for the shot (which lasts approx. 2 seconds), that I'd happily see also, but with a couple of additional comments about some changes -

One is this 1st alternative version above, which would have the Stardestroyer moving along from the LEFT-hand side of the frame instead....

Considering all the potential 'Fleet' positioning ideas and possible additions previously mentioned, this gives a rough idea of how one or more other ships could be shown on the LEFT-hand side of the 'main' one seen in the foreground (currently implied as being the 'Tyrant')....

....OR there's this 2nd alternative version below, (which would use the final 2 seconds only), from the end of the 18-seconds long Stardestroyer element used in the 'intro.' shot from 'JEDI' instead.... 

Again, considering all the previous recent suggestions and descriptions, I'd probably remove the smaller, extra ship I previously speculated about adding to this shot, and would prefer the Hoth Planet element to be more centrally-located in the MIDDLE of the frame instead, so that it seems the 'Tyrant' is seen heading 'straight-on', directly towards it now....  Also, because of the 'downwards'-pointing angle of the Stardestroyer element, the whole Hoth Planet element itself could be moved DOWN in the frame a little, so that the prow is only 'intersecting' over a smaller portion of the top of it now.  There could be a hint of a 'Moon' or distant 'Planet' somewhere around here too.... - 

One last thing, if there's any kind member here that is willing to PM me a step-by-step guide on how I can 'reply with quote' SEVERAL comments from VARIOUS posts, all together into one SINGLE post that I might like to make in future, I'd appreciate it, lol.  I still haven't figured out how I do this, and it would be a very helpful thing for me to know!   Many thanks.  :)     

Adywan, some relevant comments to do with both of these 2 shots above , will follow in my NEXT post -

Monroville said:

I guess that would kind of make sense, being that it is the Avenger chasing the Falcon... or is it?!?!

I would think that the SDs hit with the ion cannon would take a little while to recover.  But can't we just say it was Needa?  You know, because everything just went his way...

Next up: Captain Needa's best seller - "How to go from starship captain to corpse in less than 24 hours"

 

Monroville, It's certainly Captain Needa's 'Avenger' that chases the Falcon after it has blasted off from Hoth. 

In the the final shot of the (middle) 'chasing Stardestroyer' nearly colliding / (actually scraping!?) with one of  the 2 'oncoming' ones , we see it noticably 'dip' downwards.  This ties-in with the previous 'interior' shot that tilts downwards when it takes 'evasive action', showing Captain Needa being thrown off-balance.  The 'Avenger' continued after the Falcon, and caught up with it again, later on.

I quite liked an earlier suggestion that the ION Cannon might take a little while to 'power-up' up again, between shots, throughout the AT-AT battle, after it's initial couple of bursts....although we'll never know for sure, just how many more times it fired at other Stardestroyers during the evacuation.... 

But whether there would have been a 'delay' between it firing or not....while it seems that the (foremost?) 'Tyrant' Stardestroyer was hit, we know that the 'Executor', the 'Avenger' and a couple of other 'standard' Stardestroyers don't seem to have been targeted out of the remaining Stardestroyers left.  (Unless ships are only disabled very temporarily , which is not a theory I really like)  I've always thought that there needed to have been other, UNSEEN Stardestroyers as part of the 'Fleet', for the scenario to work that there could be a few ships aimed at during the AT-AT battle, while STILL leaving us with the ones we know stayed intact....  This will seem more likely now, since Adywan has confirmed he plans to add a couple more Stardestroyers to the 'Fleet approaching Hoth Planet' shot.  These extra ones that will be SEEN now, could be the ones which actually ended up as ION Cannon fodder.... 

Stay on target....stay on target....  (in best Gold 5 voice)  or vbangle will get you...

Ganamae -  thanks for clearing that up for Monroville.  I really liked his recent suggestions. 

So that particular one is called the 'Tyrant' eh?  I didn't know that either. 

Monroville said:

I would keep this shot clean of any added SDs, being that the IMperial Fleet would be "behind" the camera view.

REPLY -  I absolutely agree!  This was just originally a rough indication that the Planet could have been 'surrounded' to a certain degree, as I thought that there was going to be quite a large Fleet perhaps, and that it would be interesting to show that they would spread fairly wide around the Planet.  However, having thought about Adywan's intentions today for a more modest amount of ships, I think you are definately correct that the fewer Stardestroyers that the ION Cannon fires towards here (and that the 'Transport' heads towards too), WOULD be 'behind' this P.O.V. shot! 

 

This is where I would add the rest of the Imperial Fleet in the background, about half the size or smaller than the Avenger (since the Avenger was rushing to make the first kill).

REPLY -  Again, I think this would be a great addition here.  You have the possible placement and 'scale' spot on here, and think their addition into this would tie-in VERY well with some of the previous Stardestroyer positioning we see!

Note:  Is it really the 'Avenger' that is the most foremost Stardestroyer here?  The foremost one (seen in this shot) is the one that gets disabled isn't it?   The 'Avenger' is another one that eventually chases after the Millennium Falcon, isn't it?  

 

I would add the background fleet in the later part of the camera pan here, to show them closing in.

REPLY -  Again, this would be a great addition at this point!

You could maybe add some tracks here to show that Luke has at least walked from over the ridge (from the center to the lower left).  I see now that there are tracks directly behind him (so this is a very minor alteration suggestion), just a suggestion so we can better see the tracks.

REPLY -  Trivial and unexciting.  But a really nice subtle spot, and I'll take it!

Could improve the background sky area.

REPLY -  Absolutely!  Especially when we see how great Ady's 'ION Cannon' background looks now....

I would replace the Executor with two or three disabled SDs off to the right background, to imply that the path the rebels took (and the previous location of the Imperial Fleet) was way off to the right.

REPLY -  Absolutely, once again!  I've previously flipped between whether I thought a disabled Stardestroyer would be better added to this shot OR if it should be added to the next one with the receding X-Wing instead.  In the end I suggested adding one to the next shot.  However, I now clearly see the better option of showing something along the lines of what you've suggested here, that would look terrific if added into this shot instead, especially when taken in conjunction with your next comments!

  

 

I would keep this shot clean, as of by now Luke would be far away from the main rebel escape point and the ion battle.  You could possibly show the stars start to speed up as Luke increases speed to prep for the hyperspace jump.

REPLY -  Agreed!  It does make sense from a positioning / distance aspect, that we see the disabled Stardestroyer(s) on the previous shot instead, and in the position you describe....

Adywan, as far as I'm concerned, this particular post by Monroville is a gold nugget! 

I REALLY dig these suggestions of his here, and feel that taken as a whole, that they are a BIG improvement to this sequence in general!  Certainly something for you to consider.

Monroville, nice one!  I'd happily see these ideas realised, as they would enhance the existing shots wonderfully.  Well thought out indeed.  I've just copied your comments (as the shots are nearby here already), and added some of my own for you, beside each one.

Of course, I'll take whatever excellence Adywan comes up with, and like it!  But I certainly like these proposals....a LOT.

Just caught the new ION Cannon laserbolt!

Marvellous colouring, just marvellous.

Can't wait to see that sequence in motion.

A couple of last things for now -  I remember vaderious mocked-up a 'reflective' glow effect on the ION Cannon (and some of the snow too) when it fired.  I know this is only a single frame, but will you be incorporating a little of that at all, or not?   A little would be neat perhaps.  It's already neat of course.

Same question about a 'build-up' of 'arcing electricity' as it prepares to fire.  Is this something that there could be a subtle hint of too?

By the way, I'll miss that Turret Gun in this shot, but that sure is a terrific background and sky....and pure white too.  I sure wonder what those AT-AT shots are gonna look like now....

Thanks for the update, it's gonna be great.

As for that 'gantry' duel shot, that's amazingly beautiful work....

Wonderful, once again Adywan.  Thanks for sharing.

Matticon, here's the speculative outcome for Luke's 'escape' sequence from 7 months ago, until we finally get Adywan's version, especially since he's confirmed some certain neat additions since then - 

(Note:  it's only an approximate mock-up using a few available elements from the SE dvds.  In hindsight, I could have picked better elements to give doubleofive to use in some cases.  However, he did a great job with what he was asked to use, and managed to place everything exactly where I wanted them, and they give a good enough impression of what I was trying to indicate.  He put in a lot of effort into the rest of the sequence too, on my behalf)  I'll describe some little changes along the way....and the shots that I wanted to have extra elements added to, have been clearly indicated -

....A fleet of Stardestroyers has arrived at Hoth, and the Rebel's ION Cannon is fired at the particular Stardestroyer that guards the 'sector' where the first escaping Rebel 'Transport' is headed for.... 

(Adywan's version will have the ION Cannon firing a light-BLUE 'electrically-charged' laserbolt effect now.   vaderios did a great mock-up of how that could look, a while back) -

(I'd now probably have added an additional tiny Stardestroyer in the distance (possibly the 'Executor') into shots 9, 10, and 11, and have them further up in the right of the frame, than the one shown) -

....luckily, someone has a good aim, where this particular Stardestroyer is concerned....

(Somewhere around here, Adywan intends to have one of the X-Wing escorts end up destroyed by  Stardestroyer fire.  PSYCHO_DAYV came up with that one) - 

....because the Stardestroyer has now been totally 'disabled', allowing this first Rebel 'Transport' to get past the 'blockade'....

(Using a 'JEDI' element, I'd now probably have shown doubleofive's idea, where we eventually see the 'Transport' momentarily 'speed up' and 'stretch' into a blurred 'Hyperspace jump' here, at the end of shot 13, once it clears past the 'disabled' Stardestroyer) 

(Adywan's light-BLUE 'electrical'-laserbolt strike should really improve things around here, compared to the current look) -

....there is now a period where the expected 'ground' attack from several AT-AT / AT-STs (deposited by Stardestroyers somewhere beyond the protective Energy Shield) begins....during which, Luke and some Rebel troops battle valiantly as an 'emergency evacuation' continues throughout the battle....  By the time the Imperial forces eventually overcome the Rebels, storm the Base, and bring the Shield down, there is only a single, last 'Transport' left that has still to escape....  Princess Leia eventually gives the order to totally evacuate the Rebel Base, before Vader and his troops arrive just too late to stop Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and C3PO escaping from the inside of the Base in the Millennium Falcon....which an embattled Luke sees disappearing away from him, from a good distance away from the end of the Base.... - 

....as Luke eventually reaches his X-Wing, the last remaining Rebel 'Transport' is already hurriedly taking off, escorted by 2 other X-Wings.  There is only a handful of stragglers left now, who are all preparing to leave too.... - 

....Luke is finally able to depart from the Hoth Planet, as R2D2 agitates for him to leave immediately....  (it's unclear whether they realise that Vader and the AT-AT snowtroopers are so close now, as they have breached deep into the Base looking for him, and his friends, and the Rebel leaders....) -

....however, the remaining Stardestroyer fleet overhead will still be a threat, and one ship in particular, awaits the return of Vader....

(I'd now probably not have any sign of the 'blockade' in shots 17, 18, and 19, and just keep the reveal of any awaiting Stardestroyers purely for shots 20, 21, and 22) - 

....but fortunately for Luke, the Rebel's ION Cannon has previously managed to create an escape route in this particular 'sector'.... -

(I'd now probably show a still-'electrically-sparking' Stardestroyer as seen pointing towards us (and more towards the planet) as it slowly 'lists' around a little.  I'd have it twice as close to our viewpoint, and higher up on the right of the frame, compared to where it is now, for a better idea of Luke going past it rapidly) -

....unfortunately, Han, Leia, Chewbacca, and C3PO have not been so lucky, when they attempted to leave in a different direction....

....as the 'Avenger' has turned around to catch up with the Hyperdriveless Falcon that managed to evade past it, and nearly got away....

Yes, I had these 2 posts nearly ready to go, and then Ady dropped his 'no 'blockade' news!  Lol.

I thought I'd put them up for Matticon's benefit anyway.

Matticon said:

HOTH ESCAPE:

The Rebel Hoth escape has always kind of annoyed me for one reason. We are lead to believe that the Imperial Fleet establishes a blockade around the planet to catch the rebels escaping. The ion cannon fires, disabling one star destroyer, and then the rebel transport escapes through the hole in the blockade. Luke then pretty much makes his escape like he is on a sunday afternoon drive while the Falcon has to run for its life.

The part that doesn't make sense is that, if a star destroyer was disabled, wouldn't the imperial fleet redistribute itself to now cover the new hole? Why wouldn't the Falcon follow Lukes path out of Hoth? It sure is a lot easier and luke leaves Hoth less than 1 minute after the Falcon does. Personally I think, TPM gets the blockade thing right with forcing the Naboo starcruiser to blast past the Trade Federation ships.

How do we solve this then?

1)Perhaps more disabled Star Destroyers?
2)Have a more exciting escape for Luke?

3)Show that Vader distributes his fleet to chase after the Falcon letting the other rebels go?

Just some thoughts.

Matticon.

 

 

Some fair enough points there Matticon, and I'd like to address some of them, as this is a sequence I'm especially keen to see Adywan's version of eventually.

The way this whole sequence is currently constructed onscreen, throws up a few questions about the Fleet's numbers and positioning over / around the Hoth Planet in general....    There is also the question of whether the single ION Cannon just fires several times in the SAME direction every time....OR is it able to easily change the direction it aims at, and therefore capable of disabling Stardestroyers in various surrounding positions, allowing for DIFFERENT escape routes?.... 

Regards a couple of things though, I don't reckon the Millennium Falcon would follow Luke's path, because the crew probably had no idea of where he actually was, at the time they blasted out of the Base....and he hadn't taken off yet....  With the Imperial troops storming the Rebel Base and  breathing down their necks, Han probably just blasted away from the planet as quickly as he could, with a view to making a rendezvous with the others whenever possible, and likely just chose his own route when heading towards space.  If the ION Cannon was capable of shooting in various directions at different Stardestroyers, then Han was just unlucky it hadn't previously targeted either the 'Avenger' or the 2 'oncoming' ones, that were in the vicinity of his chosen route by this time....  (However, I usually think of it as clearing a path in roughly the SAME 'sector' of the 'blockade' each time, around about where the initial Stardestroyer was targeted, which works fine)

As far as the number of NON-disabled Stardestroyers still around to 'blockade' Han and Luke's chosen escape routes, it depends on how many ships the ION Cannon might have targeted during the bulk of the intervening battle since it's first salvo....  There is approx. 6.5 minutes of ongoing (in 'real-time' I'd say) action that happens in-between the first Stardestroyer being disabled, till when the 'Command Centre' operators start to evacuate the Base....and approx. another 1.5 minutes on top of that before the Shield is taken down by General Veers.... (just after either of these events, which come near the end of the battle, the ION Cannon might then have been destroyed by either an AT-AT /AT-ST, or targeted by a Stardestroyer from above....unseen by us.  Either way, it could be argued that the ION Cannon would probably have disabled a few other Stardestroyers in the intervening time, to protect some other Rebel 'Transports' that evacuated too....)  However, it also depends on how many, or how few Stardestroyers actually travelled to the Hoth System in the first place....  This number is unknown to everyone but Adywan at the moment!

If for instance, we keep to the amount of Stardestroyers seen in the initial shots of part of the Fleet gathering, it could be argued that there are about 9 or 10 individual ones (including the 'Executor') actually shown onscreen in that vicinity.  If we go by that number, then that doesn't seem over-many ships to cover all potential escape directions....never mind having to re-distribute some to them to cover the positions of any ION Cannon- damaged ones.  So this could account for why the current shots of Luke escaping, make it look easy - He happened to be one of the last to leave, after the ION Cannon had an opportunity to disable a few of the Fleet by this time, and there might not have been more than 10 to begin with, if you go by the EXISTING onscreen footage.... 

I don't know if Adywan is going to totally replace any shots / or put in an extra establishing shot or two in-between the current shots in this sequence, or not....OR if he only wants to add extra elements into the EXISTING shots....but the following post shows a rough idea of how the EXISTING shots of Luke's escape could just be added to in some way, to elaborate on how he might have gotten away so easily -

adywan said:

Where are all the Imperials? well they're off chasing the falcon. Vader has returned to the executor for the pursuit. Now  3 stardestroyers try to trap the falcon , and with the amount of ships we see approach HOTH that doesn't leave any for a blockade after one has been disabled. So luke is able to escape without any problems, so no blockade. Vader is using the whole destroy the rebels to find Luke without the Emperor knowing what his true agenda was so after he thinks Luke has escaped he probably wouldn't have cared less if they are all captured or not.

Adywan says "....so no blockade"  

WHAAAAAAAT???   Now that sure doesn't fit in with the 'canon' of change no. 23 on your page 1 list....  ;)

Well this is another VERY interesting update Ady, if a little unexpected.  (I should've guessed! :) )  

There is something I'm still not clear on, but I'll come back to that.... 

First, I'll describe what I've always imagined this whole Fleet 'numbers' thing as being like previously - 

This is the first shot of the Fleet starting to approach the Hoth System after coming out of Hyperspace, since we saw the initial bigger 'gathering' earlier on, which included a few more ships than seen here.... -  

....and although there are only 4 Stardestroyers (including the 'Executor') seen during this particular shot above, I've always imagined that the few other Stardestroyers that were seen in the initial 'gathering'shots (I've always made it another 5 or 6, because of  the way I view the shots), are spread out unseen and 'off-screen' at the side and rear of the nearest 3 ships to us here....

As to when a more impressive 'blockade' should start, I always thought of it as being from this shot below, onwards....which then would still be in place right up to the shot of Luke blasting away from the Hoth Planet too.... -

But if I've understood this correctly, I can see your reasoning for Vader and his main motives about the Millennium Falcon, and can see how there is enough time in the current footage to imagine him giving fresh orders for the Stardestroyers to immediately concentrate on the Falcon only, before we see Luke blasting off in his X-Wing!  Problem solved for Luke's straightforward departure, with no extra added elements needed....  I reckon the last 'Transport' that finally blasted off too, may have also gotten away unhindered, if the Stardestroyers responded quickly enough....  However, Monroville's comments on this sound equally relevant too.

I'm a little confused about these 2 things though, if I'm getting you right (and I'm not even sure I've got the 'Luke's X-Wing escape' thing right yet either!) - 

1.   If you are going to just go by the amount of Stardestroyers in the top 'approach' shot as it currently is, then once one of the ships is disabled just before the AT-AT battle starts, there are only 2 'standard' Stardestroyers left.  One of these can be the 'Avenger' that follows behind the Falcon, but that leaves us one 'standard' Stardestroyer short to account for the 2 other 'oncoming' ones....OR....are you planning to add another ship into the 'approach' shot?...OR....is a 'bigger' Fleet to be imagined as being unseen and 'offscreen' in that shot, like I normally see it?....OR....are either the 'Avenger' or the 2 other 'oncoming' Stardestroyers meant to be additional, different ships to the 4 initially seen in this 'approach' shot, having been ordered to come from another part of the Fleet to join Vader's chase?

2.  If you ARE intending to add another Stardestroyer to the initial 'approach' shot, to make up the numbers to account for the 'Avenger' and the 2 other 'oncoming' ships....it's most likely that the ION Cannon has been able to disable more than one 'blockading' Stardestroyer during the whole length of time that the AT-AT battle lasts, right up until the point where the 'Command Centre' operators are ordered to evacuate....  Having said that, perhaps the few on show in the 'approach' shot 'veered away' from harms way after what happened to the Stardestroyer that was disabled by the ION Cannon....  That seems unlikely though, as mid-way through the AT-AT battle, Leia and the Rebel General are concerned that the ION Cannon won't protect 2 'Transports' at a time (past the 'blockade'), and at the end of the AT-AT battle, Leia tells Han that she doesn't think his 'bucket of bolts' will ever get them past the 'blockade'....  

On a purely visual note, I'm also wondering about what your 4 Stardestroyers in the top shot above, are meant to be doing in any of the EXISTING shots.  Are they all positioned pointing directly towards the Hoth Planet at this point, perhaps slightly spread out from each other?  I'm not asking for a reply to that, I'm just wondering aloud.... 

Also, the single Stardestroyer that we see in the bottom shot above, might be meant to be the smallest one in the top 'Fleet approach' shot, that is seen nearest the Planet at that point.  This could be the same single Stardestroyer that is also hit by the ION Cannon.  It seems to point directly towards the Planet somewhat, which was the direction the 'Transport' came from, after all.  If they are all positioned like this, then it would come across as a 'blockade' of sorts, even if they are only 4 in number.  Leia certainly thinks it's one....

Questions....Questions....

Loved those shots of the behind-the-scenes 'gantry' background backdrop, and the unused one of Luke, by the way Adywan.  Hadn't come across either of those before.  :)

Deckard2 said:

So the Empire's main attack is striking the base from the North and the escaping rebels are located on the South side of the base. The Shield generator and Command center are both located on the North side.

I'm not sure that's correct, but I've just realised I've gotten something confused in my earlier reply to you -

It's a little unclear, but it seems that the area where the last Rebel troop carrier leaves from (we can make out it already has 2 accompanying X-Wing escorts), before Luke gets into his X-Wing, is also referred to as being somewhere at the NORTH side....because we initially hear Leia telling the assembled X-Wing Fighter Pilots that "All troop carriers will assemble at the north entrance", before she then goes on to tell them that there will only be 2 fighter escorts per ship, and that they will have to stay very close to them because the Energy Shield can only be opened for a short time.  (They are all standing near some X-Wings somewhere inside the Base during this discussion, and we can also see the Millennium Falcon and a snowspeeder in this same area...and I presume that all X-Wings in this area are meant to start grouping nearer to the area where the 'transports' are located at, from this point onwards). 

A bit later on, when it's announced that the first 'transport' is successfully away, we see Luke and some other Snowspeeder Pilots prepare to meet the AT-AT's, and can see more X-Wings in their departure area at this point.  (It's not known how many X-Wings are scattered throughout the expansive Base)  Presumably there are also OTHER unseen 'transports' leaving during the ensuing battle (accompanied by 2 fighters every time), as the ION Cannon continues to clear a path for them through the Stardestroyer 'blockade'. (It's not known how many Stardestroyers are destroyed during this period, or how many transports and X-Wings take off, although it seems that 2 'transports' at a time have to start going at the same time mid-way through the battle) 

However, later on yet, shortly before the last remaining 'transport' takes off, Han has travelled an unknown distance from where the Falcon is, to reach the 'Command Centre' where Leia is.  During this scene she says "Send all troops in Sector 12 to the south slope to protect the fighters".  This is the 'south slope' area I previously thought as being the area where Luke heads to get into his X-Wing, and where the last 'transport' is seen taking off from.  I think I got that wrong, and the 'fighters' mentioned by Leia as being at the 'south slope' are NOT the likes of Luke's X-Wing in the area of the last 'transport', as I originally thought.  So the area that Luke heads for, and takes off from, must be the NORTH area that was initially mentioned by Leia!  I think....

adywan said:

vaderios said:

The moon idea is good. It adds a character

Also i had an idea:

When the AT-AT fell wee see the rebel soldiers running and one say C'mon!

It will be cool if after the crash some snowtroopers had escaped of the fallen ATAT and heading towards to the rebels.

Just a brief scene. Also the snow speeder to shoot one of them just before it destroy the AT. Just like AOTC when the geonosian fighters killed a clone trooper...

-Angel

i love that idea . not sure how i would go about filming it though. unless anyone knows people who have snowtrooper costumes that can film them against white backgrounds. i have some ideas where added troopers would fit so getting the angles worked out is pretty easy.

Deckard2, another thing is this possibility above, which doesn't conflict with my description, as General Veers orders the debarking of snowtroopers AFTER this scene.  The AT-AT that Luke blows up would have NO snowtroopers inside it though, as they were already ordered to debark earlier, approx. 2.5 minutes BEFORE Luke brings down that AT-AT.  (and had already successfully breached the Base by this time, it seems)

Deckard2, I've just had to amend a couple of things that I missed out in my last post after you replied.  I'm quite satisfied that this explanation reads okay now.  Whether it works for anyone else is another matter.  :)

Don't worry about what the book said though, as the onscreen action makes it look like it is definately General Veers AT-AT that destroys the Generator.

As far as Han and Luke potentially putting themselves in danger's way, I guess they 'volunteered' to do it, just as they continued to do in 'JEDI'.  Who better to handle any potential threats that were out there?