CT Atlantic magazine article on Admiral Piett

True - but newcanon reference works like Star Wars In 100 Scenes, Ultimate Star Wars, and the Databank, continue to use those names, as far as I can tell.

 

Ahh this is my old Anthology Story Suggestion.
The Rise and Rise of Mr Piett.

He started as a clerk in the Stationary Department. Sending out pens and diaries and photocopier paper to Outposts and Star Destroyers of the Empire.
And from there, his superiors keep getting purged and Force Choked, until he somehow finds himself in charge of a Super Star Destroyer, under the personal command of Darth Vader himself. He is vastly out of his depth with no idea what one should do with a Super Destroyer. And eternally fearing a Force Choking.

He survives the Executor's demise, a lucky escape in a Pod. And when the remnants of the Empire get together... surviving Moffs and Admirals... they decide that he should be the next Emperor.

 

Our backgrounds vary a little bit, but as for this part...right on!

 

He does say as he strangles Ozzel that he "had failed him for the last time..."

 

So you think that means Vader showed mercy to Ozzel after his previous failures? Of course, to ESB Vader, mercy could mean choking Ozzel to within an inch of his life and then letting him live. That seems to fit with both their characters.

 

To be honest I can’t tell any of the imperial officers apart except for Ozzel and Tarkin.

 

Dwhat....you Traitor!
Hux would be so disappointed with you!

 

Admiral Piett demonstrated the true nature of the Empire. A meritocracy of efficient genuinely caring people who wanted to bring peace and order to the galaxy. Lord Vader valued such human capital.

Ozzel was probably the last of the bureaucratic Republic style leftovers of the past. I thought Piett remained collected at all times and was a worthy Admiral to command the Imperial flagship directly under Vader. I wonder if Luke had indeed joined his father, the Empire they would have run together.

 

I just remembered something. Artoo is beeping away while trying to open a door and 3PO says "What are you talking about? We're not interested in the hyperdrive on the Millennium Falcon. It's fixed! Just open the door, you stupid lump."

So it seems R2 discovered that the hyperdrive had been nobbled. If he discovered how it was nobbled then the ease with which he fixed it is not surprising.

 

I've always loved Piett's characterization! And by the way, how can't you feel some sympathy for the guy? He spends all TESB trying to survive Vader's obsession for finding Luke, but when everything was near the end, a potentially fatal mistake is done and everybody (he himself, the crew on the deck and the audience as well) guess he will be killed, yet – big surprise! – Vader is just too dejected by his own epic failure with his son that he doesn't even lash out in rage and he leaves the admiral alone. The acting is great as well: Piett conveys both the bearing of a military officer and the fear he felt for his very moody superior.
All those are all small details, but they add such vitality to the movie, making you believe the main characters and their events happen not in an empty vacuum, but in a real universe where other people live with their own backgrounds, personalities, ideas and goals. It's also interesting that while Palpatine and Vader are evil villains, most of imperial officers are nothing but a bunch of bureaucrats, each one of them not even especially detestable in himself, in private as a common human being: that also really calls to mind some debates about Nazism.

 

This just popped into my head...how did Captain Piett get promoted straight to Admiral? In the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy, there's three ranks between Captain and Admiral. On Wookieepedia, it shows that in the Imperial Navy there's five ranks between Captain and Admiral. Are you telling me that on the flagship of the Imperial navy, there's nobody between those two ranks that could have been promoted to replace Ozzel?

 

Vader promoted him and no ones going to complain if Vader does something.

 

Field promoting Lando Calrissian to General, and Han Solo to General is also of this surreal, whimsical, fantastic, Saturday morning serial Flash Gordon quality. Realistic progression checked at the door, in favor of recognizable quantum shifts in status. The most realistic fit for Lando was to make him a Major. Actively lead squadrons into combat like Curtis LeMay. The most realistic fit for Han was to make him a Major. He already was captain of his own ship, although that does not confer rank of Captain in the Rebel Alliance. EU floated the idea that he was kicked out of Imperial Academy. I don't know that that means much if he had not achieved something to show for his efforts. (I'd prefer he made First Lieutenant but Second Lieutenant is ok.) As far as the role Han volunteered for for Endor, and the number of people that are going to fit on that shuttle, he'd need rank of Lieutenant. Giving him the benefit of the doubt that he had hit Lieutenant in the Academy, and as of ESB was virtually or de facto a Captain in the Rebellion (Rieekan trusted him to take autonomous action, but had no command over him), then it's ok to think that bumping him up one, and making it official, puts him at Major. Leave the rank of general for the legit strategoi standing around in the briefing room. (For comparison, my boring analysis of every frame of Hoth and ROTJ Home One leads to a conclusion that Leia was a Colonel as of Briefing Room scene ROTJ.)

 

I don't look to SW movies for realistic military protocol. That way lies madness.

 

The Empire promotes from within. Next body up.

 

Just occurred to me that Disney's SOLO:ASWS puts Han at like private. Wasn't there a deleted scene of him being kicked out of the Academy? Stripped of rank of course.

So now I just looked up this, since I had no reason to before:
https://www.starwars.com/video/deleted-scene-imperial-cadet-solo-a-star-wars-story

 

It may have been mentioned before, but I always loved the change in Piett's demeanor when around Vader from ESB to ROTJ. In ESB he's always tense, in body and voice. In ROTJ he's more relaxed, because by then they know each other better and have had enough time to develop at least a semblance of a working relationship. It's a great piece of acting by Kenneth Colley.

 

Dammit I thought this was Julian Glover's character and was going to make a GoT joke, but now I cannot

 

At least Vader accepts Needa's apology despite killing him. Palpy wouldn't.

 

Ozzel dies, and they all move up in rank.

 

My favorite background Imperial was always Commander Igar but I really liked Piett too.

 

Captain Needa was the Imperial I respected the most. Clearly, he knew what was going to happen when he went to apologize to Vader, but he didn't try to shift the blame, and he went willingly. Good man, trapped in a bad system.

 

Yeah, it's funny how many of the Imperial officers seemed like genuinely nice, polite chaps.

 

It's that posh British accent. They sound nice even as they're blowing up entire planets.