CT So, Luke wanted to be an Imperial?

This is never really touched on or referenced after Luke joins Obi-Wan on his crusade and it kind of confused me as a kid. Luke asks his uncle if he can transmit his application to the academy if the droids work out. Then later Luke tells Obi-Wan that he hates the Empire while Kenobi is trying to convince Luke to join him. This is before his aunt and uncle are killed by stormtrooprs. Can someone explain this contradiction to me?

 

The movie doesn't elaborate on it much, but Luke's plan (which Biggs and others had apparently already done) was to go to the Academy to learn as much as possible, and then join the Rebellion and use that knowledge to help them.

 

Yup, one of the deleted scenes shows that Biggs tells Luke that he's going to jump ship as soon as he's finished his training.

As he says "It's not like I like the Empire. I hate it"

So it's pretty clear that his plan was to join the Rebellion. First thing he had to do was get off Tatooine, and via the Academy was the best way of doing that

 

I agree with the above. The Academy was the ticket off of Tatooine.

 

Okay, that's one short sighted plan. I can't see how it could work for more than a small handfull of academy applicants. I mean, how do you escape the Empire (which you just joined) to find the Rebellion? Did Biggs have a connection to the Rebellion? We know his plan succeeded even if he didn't live long.

 

That's not clear at all - Luke's reaction to Biggs mentioning the Rebellion is one of complete shock, even though he sympathises with them & hates the Empire. Luke probably had about as much intent of joining the Rebellion as someone on these boards might consider working for Lucasfilm - nothing more than a pipedream. Just how seriously he considered the possibility is made obvious when he initially turns down Obi-Wan's request for help.

All that's clear is that Luke wanted to go to the Academy to become a pilot, but not be drafted into Imperial service (as he states in the deleted scene), although I think it's also implied that he was somewhat naive if he thought that wouldn't happen.

 

The film doesn't specify the academy to be either Imperial or military in nature*. It could just as easily be an "academy" in the classical sense - the SW equivalent of going off to university.

*The EU obviously establishes both of these, but looking only at the films things are a bit more open.

 

I assumed that he did a 180 when he heard about his father being a Jedi and felt it would dishonor his legacy if he joined the Empire.

 

Like father like son , his dad was pretty keen to join the empire the second it was formed so its no suprise before his training Luke quite liked the idea of joining up.
Wonder how long it would have been before Vader found him if he had joined up?

 

A fair point

 

Always bugged me as a kid too. Looking at it now, I suppose it's the equivalent of someone who hates the government or our current administration joining the police force...I think.

Luke wanted to be a pilot period...this was the next step.

And the Empire wasn't originally as "all powerful" as later interpretations made it out to be...hence the fear Vader and Tarkin had of the Senate.

 

More like joining a state-funded university that teaches flying, intending to be a commercial pilot. Then war breaks out & everyone gets drafted.

Good point - the Biggs Anchorhead scene also includes dialogue from Biggs about the Empire "starting to nationalise commerce", which Luke is skeptical/in denial about. At the time of ANH, it's most likely that the Empire was only really just starting to tighten the screws, & the active Rebellion was in its infancy. It had taken twenty years of eroding certain freedoms, but the Emperor could finally abolish the Senate & stop pretending democracy existed any more. This was GL's politically active side speaking.

Unfortunately for Palps, people like Bail Organa & Mon Mothma had been at work behind the scenes, too. Not to mention a fugitive Jedi watching over a certain infant...

 

I know this was in a deleted scene, but I remember Luke also saying "I'm not gonna wait around for the Empire to draft ME into service!" When he's talking to Biggs. That kind of confuses things abit IMO, if he's planning on going to the Academy anyways...

 

That's a reason why I wished they'd kept that scene in the film. It really makes the scope of ANH much wider, IMO. Plus it ties in nicely with the rest of the films, as a bonus.

 

I've always assumed that Luke saw the Academy as a way off Tatooine and a chance to do want he wanted: to be a pilot. He may not have liked the Empire, but perhaps he figured it was worth going to the Imperial Academy and doing (what I assume would be mandatory) a short time of service, in exchange for getting off Tatooine and getting an education in something he wanted. Then he could go off and do his own thing as a civilian or commercial pilot.

I think he was also pretty naive about the evil of the Empire.

If the Empire's armed forces are anything like those in the U.S., there's be a big difference. Going to the Academy would mean training to be an officer and getting something of an education; being drafted would mean just being a regular enlisted grunt.

 

That's actually Biggs' line:

BIGGS
I know it?s a long shot, but if
I don?t find them I?ll do what I
can on my own? It?s what we
always talked about. Luke, I?m
not going to wait for the Empire to
draft me into service. The Rebellion
is spreading and I want to be on the
right side ? the side I believe in.

Although Luke say much the same thing towards the end of the scene:

LUKE
Well, I?ll be at the Academy next
season? after that who knows. I
won?t be drafted into the Imperial
Starfleet that?s for sure?

 

My bad on the misquote there...but I still think (to my interpretation at least) that what Luke does say there pretty much means the same thing.

But yes, I suppose drafting and joining the academy are two different things. I guess I just assumed all this time that the draftees ended up GOING to the academy but I can see how that would'nt be the case.

I still think they should have left that scene in there...

 

One more thing, students at West Point don't have to pay tuition. I can't imagine Owen and Beru having enough money to pay for Luke's college education. The Academy probably gave him his best shot at going to college.

 

Very good point. The 'Academy' was probably a very old, well-established government-run institution. Previously by the Republic (or similar in the Outer Rim), now by the Empire. Would have been subject to the same gradual erosion of its values as the rest of the galaxy.

Ten to twenty years beforehand, a capable pilot could have gone in, acquired an education & full piloting experience to get him or herself a job shipping lice combs to Kashyyyk or mops to Nar Shaadaa. Around the time of ANH, the Empire would have seen such an Academy as just another resource, and begun drafting every able-bodied being in there to fight against the terrorist threat. This would have only been starting around the time we all came in, which is why Luke was naive enough to think it wasn't going to happen, but Biggs was able to get away.

 

I don't understand why the empire was evil, other than the Death Star.

 

That's because the movies don't show very much. The novelizations show a little more, and the EU shows a lot more.

 

That's true. I realized that now. The EU explains what the movies don't. How did the empire affect the average person living on tattoine? Nothing. They just lived a normal, happy life. The rebels vs. empire thing didn't affect them at all. The rebels were not heroes.

 

Why does Luke say "It's not like I like the Empire- I hate it."

Because he knows what the Empire have been doing.

Even if the Tatooinians are the last to be affected- they know what's been happening in the rest of the galaxy.

 

To respond to the quote.

Why does Luke say "It's not like I like the Empire- I hate it."

Because he knows what the Empire have been doing.

Even if the Tatooinians are the last to be affected- they know what's been happening in the rest of the galaxy.​