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Scruffy

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Join date
29-Nov-2005
Last activity
31-May-2016
Posts
625

Post History

Post
#291321
Topic
the academy luke wants to go to
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/291321/action/topic#291321
Time
"Also, the music that this edit has playing during that scene is awesome. I know it's an alternate version of the "Binary Sunset" cue from the Star Wars 2-disc soundtrack, but does anyone know if this was ever used elsewhere? I swear the first time I heard it, it sounded very familiar, but being an unused portion of the score, I don't know where I could've possibly come across it before."

Are you a gamer? It showed up a lot in the games after LucasArts gave up on paying their composers and just chucked John Williams into the iMuse system.
Post
#291132
Topic
the academy luke wants to go to
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/291132/action/topic#291132
Time
It was this one. It's been a while since I read that issue, but I think I read somewhere that he ended up commissioning in the (militarized) Merchant Marine and not the Navy proper.

Personally, I always thought he went to a regional or sectoral academy and was commissioned as an officer of the local moff and not the Empire proper; that explains the goofy uniform he wears when he visits Tatooine. (One of the action figures claims it's an "Academy outfit," but Biggs had to have already graduated by this point, or else there isn't enough time for him to be posted and defect before Yavin.) Remember that Biggs isn't too keen on restoring the Republic; he simply wants a reformed Empire. Whose side would Biggs be flying on after Endor?
Post
#289506
Topic
What about the slaves?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/289506/action/topic#289506
Time
The explanation for that scene is provided in one of Aaron Allston's X-wing books. It's delightful. One of the Wraith Squadron operators is a slicer, and he describes the reason he feels so guilty. Paraphrased: "I was at the Battle of Endor, and as we watched the Death Star blow up we knew that the Emperor had died. I sliced into the planetwide newsfeeds on Coruscant and looped the footage of the Death Star's destruction again and again. The people in Invisec (the sector of the planet where the unwanted and politically dangerous are kept) rose up in a riot of celebration, setting off fireworks, tearing down statues. And then the stormtroopers came."

That's the EU at its best: It takes one of the off-kilter scenes from the G-canon, one of the scenes that offends a rational person's sensibilities, and recontextualizes it in a way that makes sense. The celebrations on Coruscant were not planetwide; it was just a small group of ghettoized malcontents. And their impudence was not tolerated.
Post
#289472
Topic
What about the slaves?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/289472/action/topic#289472
Time
"Strictly speaking, when Darth Vader killed the Emperor, didn't he destroy the Empire and free the galaxy from Imperial enslavement? I suppose this could be how his dream as a boy manifested itself as prophecy."

No. He just killed the Imperial head of state and government. The rest of the Empire was still there. The EU goes into great detail about the subsequent decline of the Empire. Even if you don't believe in the EU, it is an unwarranted assumption that Palpatine's death brought about the immediate end of the Empire. Roman emperors were killed all the time, but portions of the Empire remained intact, under imperial control, until 1453. Could not the Galactic Empire survive the death of an emperor, for at least a few years?
Post
#289308
Topic
What about the slaves?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/289308/action/topic#289308
Time
Originally posted by: SilverWook
It makes the Republic and the Jedi look bad since they obviously know it goes on, and don't do anything about it.

The Republic was a dying, corrupt, ineffective organization on its last legs. The Prequel Era is sometimes described as a "Golden Age" by fans, but it's not: Even in the 1976 Star Wars novelization, the late Republic is described as a dysfunctional machine. It makes perfect sense that the Republic wouldn't bother enforcing sapient rights laws in the Outer Rim; they could hardly be bothered to defend Naboo, homeworld of a sectoral senator, when it was invaded by the Neimoidian Chamber of Commerce. Lucas got the Republic right, or at least consistent with everything written before.

As for the Jedi looking bad, that was kind of a theme in the PT, wasn't it?

Originally posted by: cap
If she didn't know she was adopted, then a description of Mrs. Organa would be a natural response to that question.


If she didn't know that she was adopted, the natural response would be to look at Luke like he had grown a hand out of his forehead.
Post
#289306
Topic
Time to get assertive
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/289306/action/topic#289306
Time
Some time ago I projected Lucasfilm's annual tentpole releases for the foreseeable future. Keep in mind this is only my guesstimation, and it's worth exactly what you paid for it. There's going to be the TV shows, the DVDs of the TV shows, the 3D movies (have they been officially canceled yet?), and the HD release of the SE-PT/S-SE-OT. Assuming the TV shows last long enough to be sold into syndication, and there is one 3D movie per year once those get going--and assuming only one of these major releases debuts per year--Lucasfilm has enough material in the wings to keep the cash flowing until ~2015. Once the TV/SE-PT/S-SE-OT well runs dry, he may go back to the OOT, or he may just release new and slightly different variants of the TV/SE-PT/S-SE-OT material for the next few years (like he did with the SE from 1997-2003, and the S-SE almost every year thereafter).

By about 2020, we can hope that the Star Wars Trilogy is finally available in at least DVD quality, maybe HD. Then we can start working on the Holiday

General Frevious, it seems you are planning to conduct a suicide protest. ("Protest in public ... rather kill myself.") I never really got the point of those. If you're going to defy all social norms and forfeit your own life for a cause, wouldn't it make more sense to break in to Skywalker Ranch, ninja-style, and try to abscond with the separation masters of the OOT? They're probably pretty heavy, so you'll have to make multiple trips. Watch out for Lucas's kid, he's a Jedi, you know.

Possible new acronym: Special Edition Prequels and Special Edition (Special): SEPSES. Not very good, but I think the septic theme works.
Post
#288251
Topic
The new look official Star Wars site is up
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/288251/action/topic#288251
Time
It's not a website. It's an interactive Flash animation. And not a particularly good one, at that. It did manage to bring down Firefox, which is impressive--the build I'm using has been rock-solid so far.

By website, I mean a collection of information substantially based upon and made available by the standards promulgated by the World Wide Web Consortium, such as (X)HTML, CSS, and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. The substantive content of StarWars.com is not described by the W3C standards, it's in a proprietary media format embedded into the a web page. Going this route will cost them some users and hurt their search engine rankings, but it's their choice. I'm sure there's any number of CSS geeks who would be willing to design a standards-compliant, accessible website for them when they get tired of the Flash.
Post
#286862
Topic
Do the Jedi steal children?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/286862/action/topic#286862
Time
Originally posted by: C3PX
I love the faith we have in mankind. And by mankind of course I mean the good guys in a work of science fiction. Must we add a darkside to everything?


Ask George. He's the one who decided the Jedi were a cultic monastic order whose members took children from their parents[a], trained them to use weapons from a very young age, denied them human relationships with other people[c], ran their organization on the basis of a faulty interpretation of a prophecy[d], sought to spy on and assassinate political leaders without due process[e], denied the sapience of other beings that developed culture and used human language[f], and generally made fools of themselves.

Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon were trained from very young childhood, and they turned out okay, except for misreading the prophecy and creating Vader. Anakin was trained from childhood, and he ended up slaughtering the Jedi and enabling the murder of billions under the Empire. Luke was trained as an adult, and he managed to convert Darth Vader to the Light Side -- something the remaining Jedi Masters believed could not be done -- and withstood the temptations of Darth Sidious.

I ask you, what moral do you draw from this? The moral I draw from this -- and I give George Lucas all due credit putting something of meaning in the PT that actually makes the OT look better -- the moral I draw is that the Jedi failed because they denied young children the freedom of conscience/thought and militarized them at a young age. Luke flourished as a Jedi because he had developed a solid moral and ethical footing before embarking, of his own free and informed will, on the Jedi path. Although I have not studied Mr. Lucas's politics, I believe he is generally liberal, and the moral I have derived is in accord with liberal principles, as well as certain left-wing beliefs about the roles of military and religion in contemporary American society.

[a] TPM
AOTC
[c] AOTC
[d] PT, passim
[e] ROTS
[f] TPM
Post
#286791
Topic
Do the Jedi steal children?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/286791/action/topic#286791
Time
Originally posted by: lordjedi
One of the comics pretty much explained this. When they find a baby, and I mean an infant, that is strong in the Force, they convince the parents that the child will probably lead a better life among the Jedi. The children are not taken by force.


When you're a state-sanctioned warrior monk with a weapon at his side, trained in "aggressive negotiation," and capable of influencing people's minds ... yeah, they pretty much used force, or the implicit threat of force, to take those children*. Or they just paid the parents off. Either way, the idea of toddlers being raised by cloistered fanatical religious warriors is almost as offensive to me as Jar-Jar Binks.

Meesa rewrite Jedi training as thinly-veiled allegory of Taliban-funded madrassahs? Uh-oh!

* In addition to the obvious threat of physical violence, we also see the potential for constructive force (misuse of authority, pressure), Force-based powers of manipulation and deceit, or even outright kidnapping. Were such actions sanctioned by the Coruscanti Jedi cult and done for the "greater good," individual Jedi kidnappers would probably view their actions as service to the "Light Side" of the Force. Given the massive disparity in power between the Galactic citizen and the Jedi Order, as well as the unresponsiveness of the Galactic government, it is likely that the Jedi acquired their child-slaves with near impunity.
Post
#282520
Topic
Question about Tarkin
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/282520/action/topic#282520
Time
Originally posted by: Marvolo
Tarkin was the Commanding Officer of the Death Star. He had the final say of anything that involoved the Death Star, unless the Emperor gave an order. So when Vader was on the Death Star he was out-ranked by Tarkin. However, when Darth Vader was not on the Death Star he answered only to the Emperor, and no one else.


The relationship between Vader and Palpatine does not confer any particular rank or authority to Vader. If Vader is subordinate to Tarkin on the Death Star because the Death Star belongs to Tarkin, he would also be subordinate to any other Grand Moff/Regional Governor when in that GM/RG's territory. This legal reality is probably why Vader was installed in Death Squadron and given a mandate to operate freely throughout the Empire's regions; after Vader's disastrous losses of the Death Star plans[1] and generally bad behavior, no Grand Moff would dare let him embark on one of their ships.

[1] He lost them, got them back, then lost them again.
Post
#282444
Topic
Question about Tarkin
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/282444/action/topic#282444
Time
Originally posted by: TheCassidy
I'm kidding tcb20. Chalk it up to political beareaucracy where everyone thinks they're in control...


Tarkin really was in control. Look at the way he orders Vader around -- he's the boss in ANH. Look at the "Revenge of the Jedi" script -- a Grand Moff outranks Vader (formally, if not in a de facto sense as well). Look at Revenge of the Sith -- Vader is a whiny, depressed widower and a newly-minted Junior Sith, while Tarkin is already a highly-placed member of the Imperial military-political complex. It is apparent from both the canonical films and our evidence of the auteur's intent that Vader is subordinate to Grand Moff Tarkin in ANH.

I think people confuse Vader's stature as a villain with his his role in the Galactic Empire. Just because he was the big bad guy to our heroes doesn't mean he was the big bad guy in the Empire. Granted, the EU sometimes designates him Supreme Commander of the Imperial forces or Dark Side Executor, but

a) his elevation to those ranks probably took place after Yavin, when it was proven that he was smarter than every Moff, General, and Admiral on the Death Star combined,

b) "Supreme Commander" of Imperial military forces may refer only to those forces under central Imperial control, rather than the bulk of Imperial forces which remained under regional control (such as Regional Governor Tarkin's Death Star),

c) the title may not have conferred operational control[1],

d) even a highly-ranked member of the military establishment may have little political clout; Grand Moffs have both.

I like Vader. He was an excellent villain for the "insignificant rebellion," and his star rose with that of the Rebel Alliance. But he never attained the prominence, stature, or authority of Grand Moff Tarkin.

[1] C.f. the highest ranked member of the United States Armed Forces, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is absent from the operational chain of command, which flows from the National Command Authorities to the Combatant Commanders (analogous to the Emperor and the Regional Governors, respectively).
Post
#281397
Topic
Anyone else totally disregard Obi-Wan being Anakin's friend?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/281397/action/topic#281397
Time
Yes. I also totally disregard the Jedi Knights guarding the Republic for "a thousand generations," since the Republic itself is only a thousand years old. I disregard Anakin being the best starpilot in the galaxy, since he was actually a race car driver who grew up to be a sword-fighter and only occasionally flew spaceships. I disregard Ben Kenobi serving Leia's father in the Clone Wars, since Kenobi actually took his orders from the Jedi Council, not the Alderaanian senator. I disregard Leia's memories of her mother, since her mother clearly died within minutes or seconds of Leia's birth. I disregard Luke's belief that there is good in Vader, or Vader's admission that Luke was right, because the good in Anakin clearly died when he was a young man, since that young man's ghost returns after Vader dies.

Oh, wait. Those are things that I consider compelling story points. Those other things are the things I disregard.
Post
#275930
Topic
Anyone got £40,000 to spare?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/275930/action/topic#275930
Time
I didn't see any reference to your person, or persona, or any quotes attributed to you on Slashdot. Nevertheless, this is a public forum. Its contents are reproduced in the Wayback Machine and Google's cache. Portions may be quoted practically anywhere in accordance with fair use. Links may be posted anywhere, for any reason. You don't really have an expectation of privacy here. If you want your words confined to a limited audience, you should use private messages, not a public web forum. Or you may wish to choose words that you are comfortable sharing with the public.
Post
#275874
Topic
Anyone got £40,000 to spare?
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/275874/action/topic#275874
Time
This has hit Slashdot, that hive of scum and villainy that parades as a news site. And one fellow has already called the story into question, relying on bigdaddyvader's expertise.

Personally, I would appreciate seeing some of the prop community discussion. Over thirty years, mightn't the article have undergone a number of alterations that would make it look different than it did on film? Or is it completely, definitely, provably not Ben's cloak? I don't have a dog in the race, but I'd like to see the arguments.
Post
#274484
Topic
Is there anything you do like about The Prequels...
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/274484/action/topic#274484
Time
Originally posted by: Arnie.d
If you think the podrace is useless do you also think flying through the Death Star trench is useless? I mean, they could have skipped all the useless flying in circles. Just approach the thing from the right side and just go for the "target shaft". Useless or not, it's just fun.

If they had approached the target from above the trench, they would have been exposed to the surface guns and torn to bits. That was the whole point of the trench run: It was a daring technique made necessary by the nature of the Death Star. Nothing on Tatooine made pod racing necessary for or logically connected to getting off the planet. They could have just as easily played sabacc for a ship, or stolen one, etc. The race was inserted just to add yet another high-speed fly-through-things sequence and keep continuity with RotJ's "great pilot" line in light of Anakin's reconceptuatlization as a child.

Would you guys feel different about the podrace if it wasn't cg but real models?


The pod race was dismal regardless of the techniques used to animate it.
Post
#274176
Topic
Chefelf's Nitpicker's guide to Star Wars
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/274176/action/topic#274176
Time
Originally posted by: cap
Originally posted by: crazyrabbits
Lando says, "We've got to be able to get some reading on that shield, up or down," and then realizes that the reason they can't get a reading either way is that they're being jammed.

Yet he seems to know the moment the shield goes down.

Did the jamming stop? Did the rebels find a way around it? What happened?


The jamming ships was one of their first targets. It's described in the novel. SWTC Entry

Alternately, the jamming may have been discontinued after the Imperial fleet deployed into its assault formation. Jamming their sensors wasn't really useful then, since surprise had been achieved.
Post
#268063
Topic
Stupid Star Wars Questions
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/268063/action/topic#268063
Time
Why couldn't Qui-Gon become a force ghost in Ep. 3?

Because the movie was from Obi-wan's point of view and Yoda had not yet taught Obi-wan how to see Force ghosts? We'd have to special up the special special editions so that Luke can't see Obi-wan's ghost until Yoda trains him, but I think this rationalization could work.

Why exactly was Jar-Jar exiled from the Gungans? For being the most stupid and annoying creature in the galaxy?

Well, he was a general in the battle with the droids. I always assumed he was a disgraced officer who had caused the death of some of his men. Then when he was accepted back, they put him back in the army, promoted him to impress the humans, and sent him out to die with glory on the battlefield. (I really can't think of any other logical fate for all these hero generals. Except Madine. He's cool. Shoulda' been a major, though.)

Do they still have podraces on Tattoine during Lukes' time?

Why not?
Post
#268059
Topic
Stupid Star Wars Questions
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/268059/action/topic#268059
Time
Dark Lord of the Sith was his title given to him since he was a "master" of the dark side of the force.

But we never see any Dark Side practitioners in the OT other than Vader and Palpatine. Why would secular Imperials refer to him by a cult title? He was clearly exercising authority over them that did not derive from his position within the Sith cult. Tarkin even mocked him as the last member of the Jedi religion. No, when he's addressed as "Lord Vader" it's clearly a title of aristocracy, not clergy.

Tarkin was actually a Grand Moff over the Moffs of many sectors. He held a higher power than any regional governor could imagine. I would imagine that Moff tarkin also held some extra power aside from that of a Grand Moff since he was the Chief Officer of the Death Star.

Tarkin was a Grand Moff and Regional Governor. The Grand Moff dignity might have indicated some extra-regional authority, but it does seem strange that he brags one moment that Coruscant has given control to regional governors then the next blows up some other regional governor's planet.

Echo Base was the rebellions headquarters. It is where many Rebel leaders met and discussed tactics. Basically imagine it being like the only talked about, but never seen War Room of the United States, which supposedly sits under the White House. Luke Skywalker recommended the location of the icy planet of Hoth to the Rebel leaders because it was so remote, had little resources the Empire would want, and was simply a difficult planet for the Empire to search. Remember how Echo Base was almost quickly dismissed by Imperial officers before Vader walked up and declared it to be the base. If Vader had never seen the image, maybe the Battle of Hoth would never have taken place.


Why would anyone in the Rebel headquarters be discussing tactics? As Patton said, no one above battalion level should be discussing tactics. Definitely not echelons above God. Why would they even need to meet in one place to discuss tactics anything? Vader teleconferenced with his commands; he only met them in person when he wanted to kill someone, and sometimes not even then. The Jedi Council teleconferenced in the prequels. Why didn't the Rebels work this way? What is this "War Room of the United States"? If you mean the White House Situation Room, there's a good description of its workings here. Why didn't they meet on a ship, like Mon Mothma had the brains to do in RotJ?

Hoth was hard on their equipment, and hard on their reconnaissance -- they had to ride pack animals around just to see what was happening right outside their base. It wasn't defensible, because those huge plains practically invited an armored assault, and putting their power generator above ground where anyone can shoot it wasn't too bright. Freezing all the time and frequent cases of frostbite, snow blindness, and hypothermia couldn't have been good for morale.

Echo is probably just the successor to the Yavin cell -- a few X-wings and an Alderaanian tart with money.

I would imagine that Han and Lando could be given Field Officer Commissions much like the United States Military can during times of war.


They could be commissioned Admiral of the Ocean Sea, but why? Field commissions, and other direct commissions, or only granted when the potential officer has shown the capability to perform in the grade to which he or she is being appointed. When did Han Solo or Lando Calrissian ever prove themselves capable of serving as senior military executives? Han couldn't even manage his own finances, let alone a field army's logistics.

They did re-enforce the bunker with a whole legion of Stormtroopers, plus they thought they were only going to be dealing with a group of saboteurs, not a bunch of hairy mokney things with super powerful stones throwing muscles.


No, they didn't. The legion was at the shield generator, with the heavy armor. The bunker only had a small screening force of light armor and guys on bikes. The bunker's defenders were so paltry that when the commander ordered three squads to pursue the attackers, they could only round up eight men. In all likelihood, the bunker's complement was reduced to reinforce the generator.
Post
#268050
Topic
Stupid Star Wars Questions
Link
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/268050/action/topic#268050
Time
Originally posted by: UncleOwen

I don't mean to sound like an asshole, but if you take the time to research and criticize Star Wars, do the same to other works of fiction. Carl Barks is one of the greatest men to ever work in the comic book industry, and should be recognized for his contribution to American pop culture.


Uncle Owen, I don't mean to sound like an asshole, but Dumbella is just Della's nickname. The Scrooge McDuck universe is fairly serious, so far as anthropomorphic duck universes go, and most of the ducks -- especially on the clan McDuck side of the family -- have "real" names. Dumbella may have been Della's original name, but it was handily retconned to make it fit in to Barks' milieu. If you accept "Dumbella" as her given name, then you must still refer to George "Goofy" Geef as Dippy Dawg, right?

And you'll forgive me, I hope, if I violated whatever canon rules you follow for the Scrooge McDuck universe. There's several different versions; the Barks-Rosa version is my favorite, and it's from Rosa that I drew Della's given name. But the Duck Tales version was also very influential for my generation. I think Donald's very absence adds a layer of complexity to the character and his relationship with his family that he lacks in most of his appearances. In fact, it makes him more Scrooge-like: One might say that the men of the McDuck blood have an insatiable urge to leave their families behind and independently make something of themselves. (See also Pothole McDuck.) And then there's the various European versions which spun off from Barks and are slightly different -- Rosa notes some of these differences in the TPB of Life and Times. And also the very tangential Darkwing Duck universe; while I love Darkwing, it's a bit more slapstick than most of the duck tal -- er, stories. But I'm sure you know all this, and you're just trying to be helpful. Didn't really answer the question, though.