CT General Dodonna's hidden line in ANH

Sorry if this is common knowledge but I recently discovered that in the briefing room, right after General Dodonna says, "The shaft is ray-shielded, so you'll have to use proton torpedoes," he has an additional line that he says while Luke and (fake) Wedge are talking about womp rats.

He says, "Red Squadron will cover for Gold on the first run, and then Red Squadron will make its run. Any questions?"

(You can hear this if you turn the volume up — headphones help — and try to tune out what Luke and Wedge are saying. "Any questions?" comes right before "Then man your ships, and may the Force be with you." which is clearly audible.)

Has anyone else noticed this? It's a fun surprise to discover something new after having watched the film hundreds of times.

 

I've always noticed that he says something, but I've never bothered trying to make out the words because Luke's and "Wedge"'s little exchange is so captivating

Good find!

 

That's one of the advantages of watching everything with subtitles - hard to hear bits become much more recognisable.

 

LOL, I used to think the same thing!

 

The novelization extends the scene a bit further:

A few of the pilots laughed humorlessly. One of them was a teenaged fighter jockey seated next to Luke who bore the unlikely name of Wedge Antilles. Artoo Detoo was there also, seated next to another Artoo unit who emitted a long whistle of hopelessness.
"A two-meter target at maximum speed—with a torpedo, yet," Antilles snorted. "That’s impossible even for the computer."
"But it’s not impossible," protested Luke. "I used to bulls-eye womp-rats in my T-17 back home. They’re not much bigger than two meters."
"Is that so?" the rakishly uniformed youth noted derisively. "Tell me, when you were going after your particular varmint, were there a thousand other, what did you call it, ’womp-rats’ armed with power rifles firing up at you?" He shook his head sadly. "With all that firepower on the station directed at us, this will take a little more than barnyard marksmanship, believe me."
As if to confirm Antilles’ pessimism, Dodonna indicated a string of lights on the ever-changing schematic. "Take special note of these emplacements. There’s a heavy concentration of firepower on the latitudinal axis, was well as several dense circumpolar clusters. Also, their field generators will probably create a lot of distortion, especially in and around the trench. I figure that maneuverability in that sector will be less than point three." This produced more murmurs and a few groans from the assembly.
"Remember," the General went on, "you must achieve a direct hit. Yellow squadron will cover for Red on the first run. Green will cover Blue on the second. Any questions?" A muted buzz filled the room. One man stood, lean and handsome—too much so, it seemed, to be ready to throw away his life for something as abstract as freedom.
"What if both runs fail? What happens after that?"
Dodonna smiled tightly. "There won’t be any ’after that.’ "
The man nodded slowly, understandingly, and sat down. "Anyone else?" Silence now, pregnant with expectation.
"Then man your ships, and may the force be with you." Like oil draining from shallow pot, the seated ranks of men, women, and machines rose and flowed toward the exits.

 

Oh yeah, what's up with this? I remember reading a small bit of the novelization at the library once (which happened to be this part) and was kinda confused with how they mixed up the color squadrons to be different than the movie. Bringing in a Yellow, Green and Blue squadron, sure okay...but the author should've kept Gold and Red as the ones who made the actual trench run for consistency's sake.

 

I'm told that when Luke's "Blue Squadron" was filmed - they had trouble with the interaction of blue markings and bluescreen - so changed it to Red Squadron. The book came out some time before the movie did, and was based on older scripts.

 

The author of you speak of is none other than George Lucas himself, I believe. He wrote that book.

However, it does say it was ghostwritten by Alan Dean Foster, credited to George Lucas.

 

Novelizations of films are almost always based on earlier drafts. Usually the ones used for the audition process, or just at the start of filming. During filming, a lot can change with movies and novelizations sometimes don't match up as a result. I own a substantial number of novelizations and have long noticed the discrepancies. The same thing happens with comic adaptations. In the case of something like the PT books, due to the lengthy production process on those films, the authors are able to better match the film or the publicly released screenplays. A number of novelizations will add material to help flesh the story out, or to reach a required word count.

In the case of ANH, the script was based on the shooting script handed out in the May or June of 76, but the book was published in December of that year. Much earlier than normal to help promote the film. Certain decisions had not been made yet and Foster was unaware of certain changes in terms of visual effects such as Lightsaber colors.

 

I will have to listen for his line, thanks for posting. Another terrific excuse to watch those scenes.

 

Thanks for sharing those thoughts, everyone!

Are there any other examples like this in the Trilogy, of lines that are spoken in the background but are still intelligible if you listen carefully?

cubman987, I agree with that concern: wouldn't General Dodonna care that one of the most important lines of his briefing was getting lost in the chatter?

 

I've heard most of it before, but not every word

Also

"Fake" Wedge....?

 

Not fake. A different actor was hired to play Wedge and only got to film one scene before he left the production due to another matter. Lawson was hired in his place, but rather than re-shooting that part of the meeting, Lawson just dubbed in his voice.

 

I've always tuned out whatever he says in place of what Luke and "Wedge" are talking about. It's more prominent and redirects the attention.

Is it just me, or does it look like Wedge grins just as the shot changes from his and Luke's faces?

 

I wonder if that line was inspired by a famous interview with a WW1 fighter pilot (Raoul Lufberry IIRC). A reporter asked him what he wanted to do after the war, and he replied, "There won't be any after the war for a fighter pilot." He was killed in action before the Armistice.

 

The novelization's reference to yellow and green squadrons covering red and blue squadrons is present in the screenplay. It has always made me curious about the presence of other squadrons in the battle.

 

the swearing when the super star destroyer goes down? "yeah, **** head!"

 

After 30-some years, I'm just now discovering the fact that the person to whom Luke is bragging on about womp rats is supposed to be Wedge. A little part of my brain just exploded.

Bye, little part of brain. Nice knowin' ya.

 

The voice should have given it away.

 

This goes to show....stop talking in class Luke while the teacher is talking!!!!!!! Sigh. Kids these days

 

I was always wondering why the rebel higher ups dressed liked doctors instead of military personnel?

 

I knew the line, but I'm not sure how. I must have gotten curious and listened really closely at some point.

 

Same, I was actually expecting some special feature hidden line. I actually recalled this line before I could recall what Luke and "Wedge" are talking about.

And I always thought I had terrible hearing...

 

I knew something was said, but I didn't know what until now.