PT OT ties that were unnecessary

I enjoy the PT, but one issue that I have always had with it are the glaring ties made to "bridge" it with the OT. Granted, some of these ties were important and necessary. The obvious things like how Palpatine came into power and Anakin's rise and fall to the dark side, the collapse of the Jedi, Yoda... all of those are factors that were detrimental in telling the larger story of the Star Wars saga. But there were also many things that I have long felt were added just for the sake of adding them rather than adding any substance to the story.

Among these, one of the larger offenders is Anakin building C-3PO. I can accept that Anakin was a good mechanic as a child, and it is highly plausible that he could have constructed a droid, but did it have to be C-3PO? If GL needed him to be in the story (and I think it's great that he's in the PT), he could have used another way to introduce him. Plus, it gets a bit sillier when 3PO is in the service of Owen and Beru in AOTC, yet when he arrives back to them in ANH, they have no recollection of him. Sure, his appearance is different by that point, but his name and personality remain the same.

Another is Chewbacca. I absolutely love that the wookies and Kashyyyk are shown in ROTS. But what purpose did Chewbacca serve being name dropped and shown so prominently? I would have preferred just seeing wookies, and then when we get to ANH, we see Chewie and remember that species of strong, skilled warriors we saw in the previous film that he is a member of. But because he is shown, I feel like there should be some dialogue as to how he arrived in Han's service. Of course, the EU explains this, but to the average filmgoer, I think an explanation is warranted.

Smaller offenders include things like Obi-Wan saying "so uncivilized" after defeating Greivous with a blaster, which comes across as silly, Padme wearing her hair the same way as Leia in ANH in both AOTC and ROTS, and the V-Wings sounding like TIE Fighters at the end of ROTS (despite not sounding like them earlier in the film).

I think that some ties made to the OT were done subtly and tastefully, which made me pleased to see them. Things like the Death Star, Palpatine's dialogue ("Leave us," "I can feel your anger"), Anakin choosing between Palpatine and Mace, and Tarkin's cameo (I loved seeing Tarkin), are examples of good connections to the OT.

 

My favorite OT tie has to be the end of AOTC where Palpatine watches the Clone Army and the Imperial March starts playing. Also loved Palpatine watching Anakin and Dooku duel and Vader and Luke duel.
Anakin building C-3PO never bothered me.

 

I can see what you're getting at, but I enjoy most of the OT references. Sure, the audience may wonder why Owen doesn't remember 3PO, but I liked the fact that he was one of the characters that appeared in all of the movies, along with R2. It seems like there's a purpose behind that.

I can agree to some extend with Chewbacca, though his role wasn't too major. The only time it seemed a little forced was when Yoda referred to him by name.

Subtle nods in dialogue I didn't mind, in fact, I actually enjoyed most of them. Things like "why do I get the feeling you're going to be the death of me?" don't mean anything to new fans, but to the old fans, it's a clever nod.

Initially, it seemed like Boba Fett was going to be unnecessary, but it was nice to see his original backstory and conception used to explain the army of the Republic. There was actually care and thought used, not just putting a character in for its name.

 

I agree about Chewbacca, that seemed unnecessary. C-3PO being built by Anakin I can take or leave, I mean I feel the droids coming to Luke in ANH is will of the force either way.

The V-Wings sounding like Tie Fighters at the end of ROTS... well maybe it is obvious, but I like it. It goes well with the Star Destroyers losing their paint as the colour is drained from the galaxy.

I think the hologram Deathstar in AOTC is a bit pointless, although I liked the irony that the Sith basically steal these plans from the Seperatists with no intention of them being included in it, then later the Rebels "steal back" plans and destroy it.

 

TPM
1. I have bad feeling about this. First line?
2. R2-D2 saving the day
3. Anakin built C-3PO
4. Baby Greedo (luckily cut from film)
5. "You'll never get me onto one of those dreaded starships." Yep Threepio. You never will be on one of them.
6. "Bantha Poodoo!"
7. "Utinni!" You're asking the Podracer to come here?
8. "And you young Skywalker. We'll watch you're career with great interest."
9. Camera focusing on Palpatine after the "Always two there are" Yoda quote.
10. The end scene is the same as ANH's.

AOTC
1. Gundarks, although I kind of liked the mention
2. More Poodoo
3. "How many times have I told you to stay away from power couplings!"
4. "Your the closest thing I have to a father"
5. Clones being Stormtroopers???
6. Boba Fett
7. The asteroid chase
8. C-3PO being in Owen and Beru's care, and they meet R2 (they forget about them in Episode IV)
9. The DS Plans

ROTS
1. X-Wing's predecessors
2. The Millenium Falcon. This would be my least favorite if it weren't for the Millenium Falcon novel.
3. Chewbacca
4. He's friends with Yoda!!!
5. Tarzan yell (As if this weren't unnecessary enough in thee first place)
6. The Tantive IV
7. Captain Antilles
8. Grand Moff Tarkin
9. The DS (Man construction was fast)

 

I think Owen does remember 3P0, especially when Luke told him that 3P0 belonged to Obi-wan. That's why Owen told Luke to erase the droids' memories so that Luke wouldn't attempt to seek out Obi-wan.

 

What did people think of Jango and Obi-Wan going through that asteroid field in AOTC compared to Han in ESB?

 

To be honest, the real highlight of AOTC is that freakin' awesome sound effect for the seismic charge:


LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE SO MUCH

In ESB, the music is far more important. John Williams creates absolute magic. I'd actually say the chase scene in Star Trek Into Darkness is more reminiscent of ESB than AOTC's scene is.

 

Because they were trying to create the same suspense as TESB. They failed, though.

 

The seismic charge has to be the single best thing in AOTC alright. The music from that scene in AOTC isn't that bad iiric. ESB's theme was better though.

 

Yes, the music for that sequence in ESB is absolute genius. Some of Williams' best work, in my opinion, that draws you completely in.

I will always hold a special place in my heart for that seismic charge sound effect though.

 

At no point does Threepio identify himself to Owen and Beru.

OWEN: "I have no need for a protocol droid."

THREEPIO: "Sir – not in an environment such as this – that’s why I’ve also been programmed for over thirty secondary functions that…:

OWEN: "What I really need is a droid that understands the binary languages of moisture vaporators."

THREEPIO: "Vaporators! Sir – My first job was programming binary load lifters … very similar to your vaporators. You could say…"

OWEN: "Do you speak Bocce?"

THREEPIO: "Of course I can, sir. It’s like a second language for me… I’m as fluent in Bocce…"

OWEN: "All right; shut up! I’ll take this one."

Owen does realize that the two droids are the same ones from years ago, when Luke says that they belong to an Obi-wan Kenobi, which is why he tells Luke to take them into Anchorhead and have them wiped.

Why? He can't just leave home and meet up with Han Solo and be his co-pilot?

 

EU fix but Han saving Chewie from getting whipped by his Imperial over-seer is the only way to have those two meet.

 

I know that, but beyond that, it isn't really important to the film. That's why Chewie's Life Debt never made it into the OT, when there was plenty of time to include it.

 

I agree; the seismic charge detonation sound effect is great. I was happy after Disneyland rebooted Star Tours a few years back that they used that sound effect when Boba launched those detonators at the Star Tours vehicle.

It's not important to the OT, that's true. But, I feel that since they chose to include Chewbacca in ROTS, the audience deserved at least a mention as to how he came into Han's company. Of course, they can't retroactively go back and do that in a practical way.

 

Chewbacca being friends with Yoda.

 

I concur. Chewie's presence seems rather contrived here.

I'm not a big fan of the Jango Fett/Boba Fett story thread as well.

The one tie I've always found missing is the jump to lightspeed effect of the OT (white stripes). Could have visually tied he 2 series better to me. And I've always liked those shots.

 

Never really thought of it that way. The "official" explanation is that droids aren't easily remembered by their owners, but I like this explanation more. Looking back, I love the way Owen acts unintentionally knowing, especially when it comes to the subject of Vader. To me, he's one of the people who really sold the idea that Vader could be Luke's father in retrospect. So I think it's very well plausible that him not being thrilled to see 3PO would be rooted in his mission to keep Luke away from his father's path.

 

Lucas isn't the best director, but he was able to get the actors to play the scenes so that their reactions could be interpenetrated in different ways. Obi-wan's reaction to hearing his name makes it seem as if he wasn't ever expecting Bail to come look for him, in 1977. In 1983 and 2005, we see that Obi-wan was expecting that day to come and now it has.

 

I like that Anakin was the one who built C-3PO. Lucas has always said that the story of Star Wars is the story of Anakin Skywalker, and that we're seeing the story through the eyes of the droids. What better way to illustrate that the story begins with him than to have him actually be the creator of one of those pairs of eyes--specifically, the eyes of the Storyteller. We even get a shot of Anakin literally giving Threepio his vision. And then later we have what I believe is the saga's one-and-only explicit POV shot from Threepio's perspective, looking at Anakin.

 

Very good points, and spot on, I might add.
I would even go as far and put Yoda on the list of unnecessary OT ties. It's really a magical moment in EMPIRE when we first meet Yoda. And he's a very different character than the Yoda we must endure in the PT.

 

I'm going to weight in on a few points that I've read above:

1. The line "I have a bad feeling about this, master" - is probably one of my favourite lines of the whole saga. I'm glad they put that in, it didn't feel unnecessary, it felt real for me.
2. I somewhat agree regarding the C3PO thing. Was a bit of a stretch to think that Anakin built him, but I didn't think it detracted from anything for me. What I actually really enjoyed was the fact that R2D2 was on the Queen's shuttle. I think that was an excellent inclusion.
3. I don't mind the Chewbacca thing. Sure, movie audiences might not know how he hooks up with Han, but the reality is that they can probably just guess or assume. Just because he's on Kashyyk with Yoda when Order 66 is carried out doesn't mean much. In the 19 years that follow sometime he leaves the planet and finds Han and becomes his copilot. And, to add to that, I can't remember the exact dialogue that Yoda uses in ROTS, but for all we know he could have just met Chewie when he landed on Kashyyyk. Calling someone a friend (does he do that?) might just have been out of respect rather than the "We've known each other for 20 years" type friend. But someone clarify if my memory is poor.

Agreed. And even if he didn't think of that connection exactly, he knew that Luke's father was a Jedi and as far as he probably knew beyond that, something bad happened with the Jedi vs (what appeared to be) the Senate during EpIII, Obi Wan comes out of nowhere with Luke and then disappears, so he has reasons to not want Luke to get involved in that mess, knowing how it may/may not have ended for Anakin. (Note: I haven't read Kenobi, if there is further explanation of this in there).

 

It would have been hard to do the PT without including Yoda, Obi-Wan's mentor and one of two survivors of the Jedi Purge, in some capacity. And he's a different character by design. He hasn't yet gone through all the transformative experiences the Yoda of the OT has.

 

Yeah, having no Yoda in the PT would be a bit over the top.

 

Having the Chewie substitute Jar Jar having a "life debt" with Qui Gon.