CT Grand Moff Tarkin - how well fleshed out a character is he in ANH?

He's more fully fleshed than Vader. But then Vader is a cyborg, so Tarkin wins by default.

 

I don't agree. He was more villainous than Vader in ANH. But I don't believe that Vader's physical state made him less "fully fleshed" than Tarkin.

 

It was a joke - Vader being a cyborg, means he has less flesh than Tarkin.

 

Oh dear.....

 

The joke. You have killed it, DRush76.

 

I agree. Tarkin has flesh.

 

So sad, too soon.

 

One day, I did some looking on the web for some original, 1977 reviews of the film and several reviews referred to Peter Cushing as the main villain and relegated Vader to a secondary character or a henchman. In fact, a couple of the reviews put more emphasis on Tarkin than Vader.

 

Given how the film plays out and who was casted it makes sense. It was likely done simply as a selling point.

 

Well, take just ANH, alone, in 1977. Who certainly acts the more villainous? Tarkin. Sure, Vader chokes that Imperial, and kills Ben, but Tarkin appears to pull all the strings, and he's the one who ordered the destruction of Alderaan and the execution of Princess Leia. When Lucas started planning the sequel, with the survival of Vader from the Death Star's destruction, THAT'S when he begins to usurp the role of villain, and we see Tarkin in ANH more as in charge simply because the Death Star is his battle station.

 

Vader's ruthless, single aim ("find Skywalker") was possibly influenced Tarkin's single mindedness - ability to talk up the Death Star's ability. He'd spent 20 years over seeing it's construction and wanted to show it off, that's 2 decades of frustration. Years of working alongside Anakin "moaning arse" Skywalker, let's not forget Palpy doesn't get mentioned until tESB, so watching ANH in isolation Tarkin is the boss!!

 

Even so, I still don't see him as a villain simply an antagonist.

 

I remember Christopher Lee telling the story of how he called Cushing after seeing ANH and asked "What on earth is a Grand Moff Tarkin?". Cushing replied "I haven't the faintest idea".
I think that says something, at least, about how fleshed out the character was

 

That's so them. It shows Chris and Peter have a sense of humour as well.

 

Just a cold-hearted hand of empire. Not fleshed out or imbued with any sense of being beyond the role of Bad Guy, but like others have said, that's not a bad thing in a film like ANH.

 

I always loved Peter Cushing's cameo in Top Secret!

 

I went through a Hammer Horror phase awhile back and came to the conclusion that Cushing added significantly to the enjoyment of the films he was in just by turning up. I think gravitas is the word that best sums up what he adds. Lee likewise. Anyway, back to topic...

 

Well this might be off-topic but to add to this discussion.

1) Could/Should Tarkin have played a more prominent role in the PT?
2) If yes, how and how could this have added to his character in ANH?

For me, they cast a very good actor to be Tarkin for 10-20 seconds in RotS. Wayne Pygram played a most excellent villain in Farscape and to me, he could have done something really memorable as Tarkin. Opportunity wasted I feel.

If there is an interest with this perhaps this thread could be moved to the Saga forum.

Bye for now.
Blackboard Monitor.

 

I was gutted we didn't see that bit more of him in 'ANH' and maybe even across into 'TESB'.

An established person in the Empire, already a big authority and a brilliant military mind. Cushing plays him just perfectly with menace, sly wit and not one ounce of over-dramatic theatricality as can be seen in some other villains.

His minimalistic approach made Tarkin more fearful and dangerous I think, he was the catalyst for a lot of things to happen in the Civil War, seemingly ahead of Darth Vader. He leads discussions, he has a hold over Vader probably due to sheer respect for his military mind and leads the Death Star to destroy Alderaan and overseeing the Rebellion assault to Yavin IV.

Just a shame we lost him in his finest hour, but that probably made his character greater in the fact he stood his ground and didn't flee or retreat. A great character and acting role by Cushing indeed.

 

acroyear7 wrote: "One day, I did some looking on the web for some original, 1977 reviews of the film and several reviews referred to Peter Cushing as the main villain and relegated Vader to a secondary character or a henchman. In fact, a couple of the reviews put more emphasis on Tarkin than Vader."

Good observation. Tarkin is definitely the main baddie of the '77 Star Wars film. Vader stole some of his thunder because of the cool suit.

 

For some, perhaps. He's not a 'baddie' for me at all nor does Vader even compare.

 

Well, we can always pretend he escaped in an escape pod......

 

Impossible.

 

I wish, Drenn. I really do but even I must cede Tarkin was killed by Luke. Which genuinely sucks in my book.