Han putting his arms up in TESB -- the best moment in all of SW? (And other fine Saga moments)

When Lando goes to embrace Han on the landing platform, Han fears that he's about to get hit and raises up his arms on impulse. I think this is a brilliant touch; so brilliant that it may be the best "moment" in the saga (for me). Allow me to explain . . .

Of course, some of you are already thinking I'm nuts -- surely, there are at least 100 other moments in the course of the saga that easily trump this detail? Well, yeah. FROM A CERTAIN POINT OF VIEW. But what I think is staggeringly effective, and singularly effective, about this moment is the organic artistry of the moment itself, as it stands within the rigid structure of the saga's cinematic language. Given that SW is deeply formalistic, physical affectations are very carefully controlled and manipulated for specific effect. To see the archetypal "cowboy" character who "answers to no one" suddenly thrusting his arms up in fear is like some immediate deconstruction of masculinity and hubris and arrogance in general. We've never seen Han so vulnerable, so knowable, so tangible -- and so this moment also shades his later torture and freezing in carbonite. Given that Han is the "everyman" of the saga, I think this detail is absolutely critical at granting him, and in many ways, the saga, his and its humanity.

It could be said that there are equivalent moments elsewhere, such as when Qui-Gon puts his arm on Obi-Wan in TPM in a composition loaded with portent, or a similarly loaded moment in ROTS when Palpatine embraces Anakin on the shoulder, or even in ANH, when Obi-Wan puts a reassuring hand on Luke after the murder of his foster parents, which the other moments are clearly derived from and reinforcing in some fashion, but I think the sheer spontaneity of Han reacting out of fear and defending himself marks this example out as truly, well . . . solo.

Thus, I submit, without recourse to irony, that this is the best moment in all of SW, momentarily cutting through the formalism with a gag that manages to be humourous and profound. Yep, I'm probably a fruit loop; I should just watch the darn thing and stop dissecting! But remember where we are, guys: this is the SAGA forum. If you can't go deep here, where can you? I don't know if Ford, Williams, Kershner, Lucas, another person or a combination of people came up with this idea, but I think it's one of the things that makes TESB and this crazy saga so very, very great.

 

I've never viewed the scene with that significance, but I'll have to watch the scene with your interpretation in mind and see if I agree that all of that is buried under the surface. One point I don't agree with though is that Han is the 'everyman.' Luke is far more of an everyman in personality and archetype.

 

That is certainly a satisfying moment, however I wouldn't say it's the best moment in the Star Wars saga. For me, that peak resides in ROTJ. After the Ewoks have freed the Rebel band from their bonds, there is a moment in which Wickett approaches Artoo and pats him curiously as Artoo coolly regards the creature. The Ewok peers into the droid's mechanical eye, and at that moment the two have come to terms. Not only is it a visually stunning moment, but so much is laid bare there. What we are seeing is no less than the unification of the Apollonian and the Dionysian, if only for a moment.

We often see the droids as warm and nearly human due to their association with the human characters. But it is here, when juxtaposed with the primitivism of the Ewok, that we can view a droid as it really is: rational, intellectual, cool, ordered, an observer. The Ewok, for his part, is also most clearly seen now. He is hedonistic, emotional, primitive, organic, a reveler. When the two reach terms, we know the Rebels will win the conflict; for it is on their side that these two great parts of human nature meet and gain equality, truly become halves of a powerful whole.

Visually, the moment is perfect. The characters are the same height; they literally see eye to eye. Artoo takes the cool, clean hues of white and blue; he is sky, he is virgin ice: that which is untouched, unmoved. Wickett is brown, the color of the earth: that which is trod by foot of beast, of dancing man, ripe soil for growth of the wild. The essence of all the planetary environments showcased in the whole of ESB are here in this one simple moment.

So much is made of the machine vs. man elements of Star Wars; the faceless, white-armored, soulless, stormtrooper clone masses against our rugged and individual heroes. Here we are presented with the mass-manufactured tinman and the rugged woodsman. But are we to take them as enemies? For perhaps it is not in the struggle that the most profound truth resides, but in the unification? If this is so, then surely this moment ranks among the most subversive in all of the saga.

In The Birth of Tragedy, Nietzsche wrote that only in the plays of Aeschylus and Sophocles did the unification and balancing of Apollonian and Dionysian truly occur and that those works are thus the ones most deserving of praise. I would submit that now is the time to admit a new candidate to this lofty canon: that sublime moment in ROTJ when droid meets Ewok, Ewok meets droid, and for a brief time, at least, the great forces of humanity are exemplified in their most balanced, pleasing and perfect form.

 

i'll just endlessly repeat the first post i ever wrote in this place... the mask getting fitted is wonderful in so many respects.

it gives us the opportunity to see the world through vader's eyes, well, mask, like.

and finally all the puzzles are in place and the mask lowered can get lifted again some time later.

it's chilly. vader gets to breathe in a second and for once this isn't scary but the most tragic noise imaginable.

very beautiful. now go and check if i repeated myself

 

As a kid that scene was special. And I never knew why ... until now. I'll be watching you in the future Something Familiar

 

I'm going to chime in here with that predictable old chestnut, the binary sunset from the first STAR WARS film.

This rare moment of contemplative beauty, depicting the longing of a young man to embark upon his lifepath, when the dreary circumstances of his current existence dictate quite the opposite, reveals STAR WARS at its most universal, its most poignant. Who among us, man or woman, has not experienced that mingled sense of awe at nature, of wonder at the infinite potential of our lives, of hope for greatness, at the same time we feel tedium in our meager little lives, a decided lack of forward momentum, and a burning question as to when fate will tip its hand, and start us down that road to triumph and success, which we instinctively know awaits us?

All of these hopes and dreams, fears and hesitations seem to beset Luke Skywalker as he scans the darkening skies and watches the twin suns of Tatooine dip toward the scorching horizon. The music is questioning at first, like the protagonist, working through mixed emotions, but swells suddenly to encompass a sense of the triumphant, and seems to promise -- with those first, magical strains of the Force theme -- that something greater than any of this -- greater even than fate -- watches over him... and, by extension and the symbology of the Saga, watches over us.

This then is the best moment in all STAR WARS: the moment when a young boy ponders the future, wonders whether he even merits a 'future' of the sort he imagines; and the Universe, or the Divine, or both, seem to answer back with a resounding: Yes!

 

I don't agree. Nor do I understand how you came to this conclusion. But . . . you are entitled to your opinion.

 

^^^^


Then why not tell us what your best moment is dude?

 

I think you might be reading a little to much into this simple scene.

 

Interesting way of looking at that scene. I hadn't ever considered it, but it does make sense. I wouldn't call it the 'best' moment in the saga, but one of my favorite 'quiet'moments is the scene on the balcony of the Skywalkers' hovel in 'The Phantom Menace' where Anakin is explaining his dreams and Qui-Gon is collecting his blood so he can get a Midichlorian count. This is really the first - and only - time we see Anakin simply being a kid, and it's also the first - and last - time that he and Qui-Gon really get to interact with each other on a one-on-one basis - without anyone else around - before Qui-Gon's death. There's just something about Anakin talking about wanting to visit every planet in the galaxy that shows you just how innocent he is - and how tragic his eventual fall will be - and Qui-Gon's lie about checking his blood for infections is perfectly in keeping with everything he's done so far and will eventually do with regards to Anakin and his future.

 

Here's one of many moments that occur to me:

In ROTS, when Ani angrily tells Kenobi that he (Kenobi) is asking him to violate the law and betray Palpatine, Kenobi hesitates and says, "The Council is asking it." That moment before he answers seems to show that even Kenobi, a true supporter of the Jedi Order, isn't sure of this course of action. He seems to doubt that the Jedi are, in fact, acting in a legal and moral way. His stressing that the Coucil is making this request might be viewed as Kenobi distancing himself from a task he finds objectionable, but that he can't bring himself to fully oppose.

Based on this, one can only imagine how he'd have reacted had he known of Windu's plan to all but take over the Republic's government in the name of the (supposed) greater good.

 

My favorite moment is going to be predictable since I'm a Luke fan, but it's in Return of the Jedi.

Luke, consumed by anger, rushes his father a frenzy neither had ever known and in his hate fueled barrage defeats his father. The Emperor then attempts to urge him into finishing his father off, though it has the opposite effect. It snaps Luke out of it and causes him to look down at his beaten and broken father and then his own mechanical hand. Luke throws away his saber and has finally become a Jedi Knight.

"Never. I'll never turn to the Dark Side. You've failed your highness. I am a Jedi, like my father before me."

 

^ I agree with you. That's a really great moment because it is one of many things that illustrate the similarities AND differences between father and son. Both of them lose control of themselves at point in their 'hero's journey', but whereas the father(Anakin) is unable to pull himself back, the son (Luke) does. Another thing that makes that scene work so well is that the sight of Vader's severed robotic hand - which Luke never knew about, BTW - is what pulls him (Luke) back from the precipice. We'll probably never know what went through Vader's mind in TESB when he cut off Luke's hand, but it is that act that ultimately allows Luke to avoid following his father's fate in becoming a pawn of the Dark Side and the Emperor.

 

From a Sci-Fi point of view ... The Ewok/R2 encounter mentioned above is really profound ... as explained by S.Familiar. I have been seeing/thinking about the worldly importance of that scene all week.

 

I'd never really paid much attention to the ewok/r2 scene before, now i'll always think about the machine vs nature theme whenever i see it.

 

I wholeheartedly, JF.

It is one of my very favourite moments of TPM, too. And in Qui-Gon's lie to his 'padawan', we see the mantle that Kenobi will take on when mentoring Luke, all those years later...


-JR

 

I thought in TPM a touch of reality was added when Yoda asks Anakin how he is feeling on Coruscant. Anakin could have said, I angery, I miss my mom, I'm sad, to move the plot along, instead, Mr. Lucas decided Anakin should say, "Cold, sir". I was watching TPM the other day, and I thought it was was an example of really good writing on the part of Mr. Lucas. A kid thats spent his entire life on a desert planet goes off planet to a place that doesn't appear what we would consider cold, personally finds it cold because it's like 30 degrees lower. I thought it was a great idea.

 

A part that always really stands out to me is in A New Hope, right after Luke has blown up the Death Star. The audience, as well as Luke, is sort of shell-shocked, and you can hear Obi-Wan reminding Luke about the Force and how it will always be with him and all that. But the thing that always catches my attention is Luke, rocking back and forth in his X-wing due to the explosion. He has had his first big victory, as well as loss, and now he is just sitting there, sort of worn out, but also exhilerated, just like the audience.

 

My favorite scenes are when luke is in yodas hut in ESB when luke first finds out who Yoda is. The speech yoda gives is so inspiring. When yoda says to luke "father, powerfull jedi was he..powerfull jedi. You hear thunder in the background and yoda looks up when the thunder sounds" That was an elegant touch.

Also when Luke fails to raise the X-wing. Beautiful screen writting in that speech. Lawerence Kasdan and Leigh Brackett(what was left of her work anyways) did the best job of all 6 when ESB was written.

Also when Luke is walking the hall way at the end of ESB when he is looking vader and vader slashes out of no where. It's as if he said to himself "this kid is the real deal I better get this over with and disarm him" He held nothing back. Right up to when luke jumps off.

When Luke and Ben are in bens hut in a new hope as well.

Man the originals had such beautiful screenplays. Even got an academy award nomination for it.

As much as I dislike the prequels I have to admit to almost liking any scene that has qui-gon in it. He is the only character that even gave me a sense of the OT. Liam's acting was superb. He had a very Mystical feel to him.


Last but not least in ROTJ when luke is getting fried with force lighting and saying "father please help me" Vader keeps looking back and fourth, back and fourth at the emperor and luke trying to decide what he should do before finally deciding to save his son. That was an emotional scene. Very well done.

Can't say I have any favorite scene sin attack of clones or revenge of the sith. The screenplays and acting are so terrible its hard to watch.

Going from empire strikes back and a new hope to attack of the clones is like going from The wrath of Khan to star trek 5 the final frontier. They are both star trek films but the difference in the quality and acting and screenplay is as plain to see as the nose on ones face.

 

Latverian33, I'm pleased that you can wax so eloquent on the awesomeness of the OT. It's inspiring to read your praises for the three original films, when we know how severely you detest the recent PT movies.

But please keep in mind that we need to stick to the topic here, which is "the best moments in the Saga". Tempering your best moments with discussion of how awful you think the worst moments are is off-topic. Take your worst moments to the Balanced Discussion thread, and we'll dissect them to your heart's content over there. Thank you.

 

Lots of great moments in here.

You may be interested in the countdown of the JC's Top 100 CT Scenes, which has just begun over in the CT Forum!

Please stop by and add your thoughts!

 

I really appreciate this POV. I understand what you mean about these little naturalistic moments and how they really stand out and work all the more for the kind of archetypal, formal setting of the films. It can sometimes go on playing out like a myth as opposed to actual happenings. Which I guess makes sense But I agree, that moment is really organic and natural. I like it.

Another moment like that I *really* love is in ANH in the hangar on Tatooine. Han is going on talking about the Falcon, and saying he's made some special modifications himself. But if you watch Obi-Wan, he does this hilarious roll of his eyes. In a very "yes, yes, I'm sure it's the most amazing thing I'll ever see", extremely sarcastic and flippant kind of way.

I hadn't been able to see this all the years I watched ANH on VHS because it was full screen . So it was a delight when the DVD came out to see it. I started cracking up. How very Obi-Wan. It's another little touch I love. Owed to Alec Guinness's always nuaned acting. Very natural.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

The two best moments in all of Star Wars would be for me;

1) The binary sunset shot where Luke looks off to the horizon in hopes of a better future.
2) Yoda's moment of dissapointment in Luke's inability to believe in himself just before he himself raises the X-Wing fighter from the swamp onto dry land.

Now those are moments; but the best SEQUENCE of scenes is and will always be (in my view) the trench run in the original Star Wars.

 

The trench run is very good. Very dramatic and though provoking.

The entire time on dagobah in ESB is on my list as well.

The screenplay was beautiful.