cap

G E Predator said:

C3PX said:

Observe:

Tarkin would have gone, “That must be where the Rebel base is! Destroy that planet!”?

The question mark (?) at the end of this quote indicates that it was a question.

He is asking, not stating. Basically he was asking you, do you actually think Tarkin would have blown up the planet the Falcon was traced to, regardless of whether or not there was evidence to indicate there was Rebel activity taking place there?

Yes, I believe that he would.  Since no one in the Empire had any idea where the Rebel Base was, they would have assumed that whatever planet that the Millennium Falcon would be where the Rebel's hidden base was located.

In that case, they should have gone to hire another ship on whatever planet the Emperor was on. 

(Probably Coruscant.  I never liked that planet anyway.)

G E Predator said:

cap said:

I didn’t realize that Yavin was a gas giant.  That’s a satisfying answer to that question.

 

Question #3: if Leia suspected that there was a homing beacon on the Falcon, why didn’t they go somewhere else and hire another ship to fly to Yavin?  Did they want the Death Star to find their base?

 

That I can answer definetly.  Leia is not the type of person to put innocent people at risk.  Since the Empire was following the Falcon to the secret Rebel Base - which they were trying to find to begin with - they would have assumed that the first place that the Millennium Falcon lands.

That doesn’t make sense.  If they had gone to a place where ships can be hired (Mos Eisley on Tatooine, or a similar place), Tarkin would have gone, “That must be where the Rebel base is! Destroy that planet!”?

Davnes007 said:

Maybe Shmi was gang-banged, and Ani is a combination of many 'fathers'.

It all makes sense now!  Anakin Skywalker == Freddy Krueger!

Who’s that in your avatar?  Yummy!

auraloffalwaffle said:

I particularly hate the Immaculate Conception idea.

What immaculate conception?  I always figured Shmi just got really drunk at a frat party, got knocked up, and didn’t remember the encounter.

JarHead413 said:

I don't know how much time the DS needs between shots.  Might be a day to recharge that thing

That certainly was not the case in ROTJ, but who knows, maybe technology advanced in four years from “takes a day to recharge” to “takes moments to recharge even when the darn thing is only halfway built.”  True, this is a universe that had no significant technological development for thousands of years, but you never know.

I didn’t realize that Yavin was a gas giant.  That’s a satisfying answer to that question.

Question #3: if Leia suspected that there was a homing beacon on the Falcon, why didn’t they go somewhere else and hire another ship to fly to Yavin?  Did they want the Death Star to find their base?

1) Why don’t the rebels evacuate the base just in case?  A skeleton crew would have to remain behind to coordinate the attack on the Death Star, but they can do that from a ship, and everybody else can be getting the hell out of Dodge at light speed, leaving the Death Star nothing to destroy but an empty base.

2) The Death Star spends 30 minutes orbiting the planet to get a shot at the moon.  Wouldn’t it be a lot faster to just blast the planet?  Judging by the debris and shock wave resulting from the destruction of Alderaan (in the SE and later editions), the explosion almost certainly would take out the moon.  Even if it doesn’t, it would leave the Death Star with an open shot at the moon.  At the very least, the moon would be rendered uninhabitable and the base useless; people and ships might have a chance to get away, but they should be gone already anyway, especially if you give them an extra 30 minutes to evacuate while you circle the planet.

And talk about an “effective demonstration”!  It would say, “If you harbor Rebels in your system, you’re dead, no questions asked, so you better be vigilant about not letting Rebels use your system.”