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Topic:
Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
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Joe_Garelli
Registered:
Dec '07
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Date Posted:
1/20 9:26am
Subject:
Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
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Seems like kind of a stupid error in judgement if you ask me, Darth Vader along with his Tie fighter escort squadron has been cleaning house and destroying every X-Wing and Y-Wing fighter that he has come across except for Wedge who he damages and lets go because he cannot fight anymore, so after Vader has destroyed Biggs X-Wing and is about to attack and destroy Lukes fighter why doesnt the Death Stars radio controllers get on the radio and tell Vader or his wingmen that there is an unidentified ship closing in on their location directly behind their flight path basically getting ready for an attack.
Because in the military when planes or fighters are in danger of attack from enemy fighters the base usually radios it in to them so that they can take evasive action and avoid it or at least be alerted to their presence, also Darth Vader himself should have noticed the Falcon on his own fighters radar as well, either Vader becomes lost in the moment or doesnt maintain radio contact very often, which is evident from his shout of "What!? Vader just invites disaster with his lack of attention, Vader seemed to be pretty careless to allow Han Solo and Chewie to sneak up on his unit unnoticed like that, you'd also think that the power of the Dark Side would let him sense the danger and prepare for it before the Falcon arrived.
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Alpha-Red
Registered:
Apr '04
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Date Posted:
1/20 9:32am
Subject:
RE: Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
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The ANH novel mentioned that the Death Star was jamming the Rebel fighters' sensors, so maybe it works both ways and jams Imperial ones too? Or perhaps the Falcon, being a smuggler ship, just switched its transponder to look like an Imperial vessel.
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Darth_Davi
Registered:
Jul '05
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Date Posted:
1/20 2:06pm
Subject:
RE: Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
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Alpha-Red posted:
The ANH novel mentioned that the Death Star was jamming the Rebel fighters' sensors, so maybe it works both ways and jams Imperial ones too? Or perhaps the Falcon, being a smuggler ship, just switched its transponder to look like an Imperial vessel.
Seems like a logical explanation to me...
-----signature-----
What the hell is an Aluminium Falcon?
Oh, I'm sorry, I thought my Dark Lord of the Sith could protect a thermal exhaust port thats only two meters wide!
It wasn't even fully paid off yet!
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Wookiee_Vader
Registered:
Aug '07
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Date Posted:
1/20 4:07pm
Subject:
RE: Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
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Darth_Davi posted:
Alpha-Red posted:
The ANH novel mentioned that the Death Star was jamming the Rebel fighters' sensors, so maybe it works both ways and jams Imperial ones too? Or perhaps the Falcon, being a smuggler ship, just switched its transponder to look like an Imperial vessel.
Seems like a logical explanation to me...
Even so, it would have been clear that the Falcon was gearing up for an attack run.
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Alpha-Red
Registered:
Apr '04
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Date Posted:
1/21 12:36am
Subject:
RE: Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
- Date Edited:
1/21 12:39am (2 edits total)
Edited By:
Alpha-Red
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Attack run, shmattack run. The Death Star's architects obviously didn't think the trench was that important, and probably didn't even have sensors that could scan down there (who in their right mind would fly through a trench anyway?). Even if they did have radar-based sensors they'd probably pick up tons of clutter from the walls of the trench and all those jaggity edges we saw in the movie. If that's the case then the X-wing and Tie Fighter chase was going on without the knowledge of anyone else on board the battle station (the guns could've been ordered to fire blindly in a particular direction after someone reported fighters in the trench).
I think the physical geometry of that trench too would provide a major obstacle to signals intended to the ships flying through it. If that were the case then Vader might not have received any warnings intended for him. Even if the Force is tipping him off that something is amiss, he's pretty focused the fact that a Force-sensitive Rebel pilot in front of him is about to claim a massive chunk of hero points.
Hence the Death Star commanders don't know where Vader is, they can't contact Vader cause he's in the trench....all they see is a YT-1300 going in supposedly to make a last-ditch bombing run on the thermal exhaust port so they try to vector in fighters to kill it perhaps? If so they probably failed and it's possible Han picked up a competent gunner crew from Yavin prior to taking off. If he was using a fake transponder then he could've gotten even further to his target in the confusion of the battle before an intercept attempt was made.
Vader doesn't see the Falcon coming in at him (modern day jet fighters have foward-pointing radar only, assuming this is true for SW too), Vader's Force senses are going wild and he's still euphoric from killing Obi-Wan so he doesn't feel anything else. He's not picking up any transmissions and any signal traffic would only be an intercept order rather than a more urgent "you're under attack" so he wouldn't feel that through the Force either.
Yeah, I dunno....just throwing stuff around =P
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timmoishere
Registered:
Jun '07
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Date Posted:
1/21 12:52am
Subject:
RE: Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
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Vader had tunnel vision and was focusing on trying to shoot down Luke. He wasn't aware of anything else.
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Vikings > Pirates > Ninjas
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Darthbane2007
Registered:
Oct '07
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Date Posted:
1/21 5:02am
Subject:
RE: Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
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If they did, then we wouldn't hav ESB and ROTJ, would we?
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jedibri
Registered:
Jul '00
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Date Posted:
1/21 9:51am
Subject:
RE: Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
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It's also possible they thought the Falcon was leaving.
-----signature-----
Jesus says "Unless your attitude is that of a Child you will not enter Heaven."
That's why I'm glad he gave me Star Wars.
It always reminds me of my childhood.
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scf881
Registered:
Sep '04
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Date Posted:
1/21 7:44pm
Subject:
RE: Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
- Date Edited:
1/21 7:46pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
scf881
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i think that vader was too dead set on shooting luke down. he sensed his strength in the force, and wanted to take him down no matter what. he focused his attention completely on shooting luke that he wasn't paying attention to his instruments.
or this...sorry typed before i read this post.
Vader had tunnel vision and was focusing on trying to shoot down Luke. He wasn't aware of anything else.
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Long time lurker...just started posting.
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obi-rob-kenobi4
Registered:
Apr '07
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Date Posted:
1/22 10:22am
Subject:
RE: Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
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i think we are over thinking this one,i think that the simple explanation is that the falcon is way too fast for any one to see it coming,i mean after all it IS the millenium falcon were talking about here.the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy! 
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so this is how liberty dies with thunderous applause.....
who am i,where am i going?
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_Sublime_Skywalker_
Registered:
May '04
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Date Posted:
1/22 10:30am
Subject:
RE: Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
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Han is right about his ship, it's pretty fast. Maybe even fast enough to slip threw imperial sensors and hitting Vader before the Imperials even knew he was there.
Also, jamming the sensors usually works both ways, so that's a plausible explanation too.
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'You don't know the Power of the Darkside!'-Darth Vader
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Darth_Davi
Registered:
Jul '05
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Date Posted:
1/23 7:11am
Subject:
RE: Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
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Here is a theory I just came up with...
General Tagge, the one who Vader almost choked to death in the conference room, deliberately ordered his crew to not inform Vader. Still miffed about being choked, he had an axe to grind with Vader, and wanted to see Vader and his "Force" deal with the Falcon. Tarkin, being the highest ranked official on the Death Star, isn't going to be responsible for minor details like communications, He has other things to concern himself with, so its not as if Tarkin would have to have gone along with Tagge's treachery. Tagge truly felt the Death Star was invincible, didn't see the rebels as a threat at all, so he was just trying to get rid of Vader, who embarrassed him earlier. Tarkin would not find out later, if at all, that Tagge deliberately deprived Vader of the information, by which time, the Dark Lord would be dead, and Tagge wouldn't have to worry about being summarily executed. Tagge just didn't know that if that lone X-Wing survived, he would in fact, destroy the entire Death Star. Ironically, Vader, despite Tagge's treachery, is the only Imperial to survive...because Han knocked him out of the trench. Poetic justice, perhaps?
-----signature-----
What the hell is an Aluminium Falcon?
Oh, I'm sorry, I thought my Dark Lord of the Sith could protect a thermal exhaust port thats only two meters wide!
It wasn't even fully paid off yet!
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timmoishere
Registered:
Jun '07
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Date Posted:
1/23 11:01am
Subject:
RE: Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
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That was Admiral Motti who was choked. 
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What ain't no country I ever heard of. They speak English in What?
Vikings > Pirates > Ninjas
Everything tastes better wrapped in bacon, especially bacon
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skyysoblue
Registered:
Jul '05
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Date Posted:
1/23 5:03pm
Subject:
RE: Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
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Another on this same theme:
1. Why weren't other Rebel fighters going into the trench after Vader's ships to pick them off from behind
The answer to my own question is that if they fire and miss they may be putting their own comrades in danger...
Now for a new answer to the question:
All of the ships attacking the Death Star primarily used weapons which fired forward from the front of the ship, so it would be extremely difficult, almost impossible, for a rebel ship to try and dive bomb over Vader's tie fighter.
However, the guns on the falcon were on the top and bottom of the ship, thus it could fly over the trench parallel to the fighters below and try and pick them off. The person monitoring the fight was not aware of this and thus did not perceive the danger in time to warn anybody
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Darth_Davi
Registered:
Jul '05
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Date Posted:
1/23 8:22pm
Subject:
RE: Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
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timmoishere posted:
That was Admiral Motti who was choked.
Not according to the novelization...
-----signature-----
What the hell is an Aluminium Falcon?
Oh, I'm sorry, I thought my Dark Lord of the Sith could protect a thermal exhaust port thats only two meters wide!
It wasn't even fully paid off yet!
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timmoishere
Registered:
Jun '07
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Date Posted:
1/23 9:04pm
Subject:
RE: Why didnt the Death Star tell Vaders squadron that the Falcon was coming from behind them?
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Admiral Motti: 
General Tagge: 
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What ain't no country I ever heard of. They speak English in What?
Vikings > Pirates > Ninjas
Everything tastes better wrapped in bacon, especially bacon
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