main
side
curve
  1. In Memory of LAJ_FETT: Please share your remembrances and condolences HERE

Full Series Tarkin

Discussion in 'Star Wars TV- Completed Shows' started by Jedi Knight Fett, Mar 7, 2015.

  1. Cushing's Admirer

    Cushing's Admirer Chosen One star 7

    Registered:
    Jun 8, 2006
    :rolleyes: How sad and perfectly predicable. :p He can't die yet as Sir dies in TSW. :p Tarkin is not the fool many paint him here and he shows it in glimpses both in TCW, Rebels, and TSW. Not his fault supposed 'heroes' have Plot Amour and Convenience a mile wide. :p
     
    SateleNovelist11 and Darth_Pevra like this.
  2. Darth_Pevra

    Darth_Pevra Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    May 21, 2008
    Tarkin's mistake in ANH wasn't even a particularly great one. The only thing that brought him down was a so-called "impossible shot" which in itself should tell just how unlikely the rebel victory was. Not even the rebels itself seemed to believe it was possible.
     
    darklordoftech likes this.
  3. Brandon G

    Brandon G Jedi Knight star 1

    Registered:
    Apr 20, 2015
    I don't quite get it.
     
  4. Vorax

    Vorax Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jun 10, 2014
    Some of the pilots doubted it could be done, but Luke begged the differ and compared it to bulls eying womp rats back home. The Alliance command believed it could be done but the whole mission was one big gamble they put everything they had in it and preyed it would be enough. The Alliance were struck a deadly blow on Alderan which probably took out their main life line of weapons, men, ships, arms, ammo, money, food ect. Vader failed in retrieving the stolen plans, his plan in letting Leia escape was a catastrophic blunder one of which the Empire and Vader never recovered from. Tarkin's fault lied in relying in Vader solely, not taking the Rebel threat very seriously, not having proper Star Destroyer and Tie Fighter support for the battle station. He relied primarily on the defensive armament, armor plating, shields of the Death Star and again Vader's Tie defense. Tarkin also neglected make the proper evacuation precautions which he dismissed outright.
     
  5. jakobitis89

    jakobitis89 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2015
    I don't think anyone's said Tarkin is stupid. Merely that he's evil... which he kind of is, let's face the facts here. In ANH he did get overconfident but that's because he was so used to winning against them... justifiably, on current evidence.
     
    Darth_Pevra likes this.
  6. Darth_Pevra

    Darth_Pevra Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    May 21, 2008
    Ah come on, both men couldn't know that a force prodigy would suddenly pop-up and do the impossible.

    Tarkin had seen the Jedi myth thoroughly deconstructed, thousands of them felled by common blaster fire. He knew them as powerful fighters but not as living and breathing magical miracles.

    And Vader I think at this time has also stopped believing in the Jedi magic, understandably when you slaughter so many of them. The only Jedi miracles he remembers were caused by himself as a kid. He was so obsessed with finding Skywalker because he had to realize that Luke was someone special like he once was.

    It's a dark age in which no-one really believes in the Jedi anymore. Not Han Solo and not even the Imperials.
     
  7. Kassius Konstantine

    Kassius Konstantine Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Mar 1, 2015
    The problem with Tarkin is that people seem to like him as some kind of military genius. I have seen very little that would support that. In fact, his performance in Rebels was the best we ever saw from him on screen.

    Or are you seriously going to tell me his performance in the Clone Wars was great? All I remember are his useless complaints. (No wonder Anakin liked him...).
     
  8. Vorax

    Vorax Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jun 10, 2014
    Cushing played a memorable villain as the villainous military despot. But I never found Tarkin to be this great tactician. He seems to just use brute force and attempt overkill and damn the consequences as his only tactic. His handling of Tano's prosecution was based on bias and rail road trumped up charges and superficial evidence. Him trying the wrong person mustve made him look like a putz publicly and the Jedi likely wouldve lost any confidence him after that.
     
  9. Darth_Pevra

    Darth_Pevra Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    May 21, 2008
    I think he is a better organizer and administrator and maybe longterm strategist than he is a tactician. Building the Death Star and keeping it secret for so long is an incredible feat.
     
    jakobitis89 likes this.
  10. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    Wasn't most of that Palpatine & Dooku's work? They got the Death Star to "skeletal sphere" stage above Geonosis - then put Tarkin in charge of finishing it off.
     
  11. jakobitis89

    jakobitis89 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2015
    I don't think he IS a military genius... but I don't think he's meant to be one, either. ''Moff'' is a political role not a military one if I recall correctly, a bit like how a governor could call in the National Guard if needed but not take direct field command. And I think Pevra's right that it's his organisation and administration that is his real selling point: find a sector that's falling behind, send in Willie Tarkin and watch that production rate soar! Sort of an executive fire-fighter type. His gambit with the signal in the S1 finale was a genuinely smart move but he's more useful for getting other people to get their **** together rather than anything he does himself.
     
  12. Darth_Pevra

    Darth_Pevra Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    May 21, 2008
    Tarkin doesn't need to be a tactical genius, that's what the admirals and captains of the navy are for.

    When you build a house, erecting the brick walls is the easiest part. All the installation work inside is the hard part.
     
    TK-421 Is vader likes this.
  13. Kassius Konstantine

    Kassius Konstantine Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Mar 1, 2015
    He was captain and an admiral of the navy in TCW, but it is indeed pretty clear he is more of a politician and administrator than a soldier. That is perhaps why he teams up well with Vader, who is a soldier (or warrior) in the first place.
    My point is that people should not really expect Tarkin to win everytime; a capable military leader can outsmart him, we saw that before. And Ahsoka is a capable military leader, more so than Tarkin thanks to her experience gathered in the Clone Wars.
     
    Iron_lord and Darth_Pevra like this.
  14. jakobitis89

    jakobitis89 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2015
    Tarkin seems the kind of person who sees the actual fighting as basically a bit crude and beneath him. He can fight, if needs be, but he'd much rather arrange matters so that a rival suffers some sort of political embarrassment and is forced to retire, or if that can't be arranged perhaps some stormtroopers can drop by at three AM and remove you from the public eye... and private record.
     
  15. Darth_Pevra

    Darth_Pevra Chosen One star 6

    Registered:
    May 21, 2008
    As long as his opponents win because they are indeed competent and intelligent, I have no beef with that. But I don't think that was the case in the rebels season 1 finale. I hope the writing will become better over time.
     
  16. Kassius Konstantine

    Kassius Konstantine Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    Mar 1, 2015
    I am not convinced he can fight. In Citadel Rescue, he shot an unarmed soldier who lay on the ground dazzled from a crash, but Tarkin failed to kill him nonetheless and got into a hand-to-hand combat he lost. (Perhaps he was the Stormtrooper master shooting instructor ;) ). And as elaborated before I have not seen much good from him concerning tactics or strategy.
    He has his qualities, but not so much in military affairs.


    Darth_Pevra

    Yes, the writing needs to be improved, but let's not pretend Star Wars has ever been good at portraying the military. It is not military Sci-Fi.
     
    rumsmuggler and Vorax like this.
  17. jakobitis89

    jakobitis89 Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2015
    I don't think it's his job to be a good military leader though. It's his job to get the actual military leaders to pull it together and get to whupping Rebel backside. Organisation, motivation, administration... those are what Tarkin brings to the party. He's not going to pull out a rifle and get to shootin', he's going to find the officers who aren't pulling their weight and explain to them exactly how bad an idea this is and precisely why they really, REALLY want to get it together, like now.
     
    darklordoftech and Iron_lord like this.
  18. redlightning

    redlightning Jedi Knight star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 1, 2014
    I finally understand why it was significant for Tarkin to have come to Lothal in the first place and later Vader. It's because of the Kaiburr crystals which can be found and mined on the planet. Many of these crystals are going to become the power source of the Death Star. What the Ghost crew has been doing is probably threatening the construction of the Emperor's most powerful weapon. How lucky are they.
     
    darklordoftech likes this.
  19. darklordoftech

    darklordoftech Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Sep 30, 2012
    and if the Rebels didn't have a Force-user on their side, it probably would have been impossible to make that shot.
     
    SateleNovelist11 and Darth_Pevra like this.
  20. Darth Valkyrus

    Darth Valkyrus Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 12, 2013
    Tarkin really shone in FATG. A very practical military man, adapting to circumstances as they occurred, never losing his cool even under the greatest pressure.

    Were it not for the unforseen circumstance of Kanan killing the inqisitor and trashing the ship's power core, the rebel rescue attempt would have been foiled. Kanan would have died in the engine room. Ezra as well. The other rebels wouldn't have made it out.

    Ahsoka's fleet when it turned up (not that Tarkin knew it was coming) wouldn't have had any friendly ship to meet, Tarkin wouldn't have been in the middle of evacuating his ship and would have been in command able to give attack orders, the handful of CR90s would then have been blown to free electrons under the full barrage of the 5 ISD's heavy turbolasers.

    End result: Kanan dead, Ezra dead, Sabine, Hera et al captured or dead, Ahsoka and all her crew dead and their ships destroyed.

    It's possible even with the inquisitor killed, if Tarkin's ISD hadn't been fatally damaged nescessitating evac during the appearance of the rebel fleet, he'd have been in a position to rescue the situation (Imperial POV) and kill them all off anyway.
     
  21. Vorax

    Vorax Jedi Grand Master star 5

    Registered:
    Jun 10, 2014
    Tarkin was a megalomaniac and sociopath and very stubborn, thats why he appears calm. His refusal to accept reality was never his strong point. He spent all that time focusing on Kanan and torturing him to mainly prove if he was a Jedi and even refused to accept and so took him to Mustafar. His refusal to accept Kanan was a Jedi lead to the debacle over Mustafar as that was his only reason for leaving Lothal - along with severely underestimating the Lothal groups resolve and abilities who for months were handing the Empire defeat upon defeat. Tarkin tried to cover up the defeats by executing Laurel and Hardy as they were made scapegoats for the Empire's failure when in reality they were following Tarkin's military guidelines. Kallus was not expendable unlike Aresko & Grint were but Kallus failed as well and he's up there with higher pay grade as did The Inquisitor and Tarkin himself later. He left Lothal's communication ship alone in orbit with no support vessels, and all security on the planet was relaxed, to where the rebels could easily manage to steal a vessel and take out their military outposts without harassment or word getting around one of their ships was stolen. Tarkin personally blew up the planet's and thus Imperial's only communications lifeline
     
  22. SilentGuy66

    SilentGuy66 Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Dec 1, 2014
    Is Tarkin confirmed for season 2?
     
  23. Darth Valkyrus

    Darth Valkyrus Jedi Grand Master star 4

    Registered:
    Apr 12, 2013
    Umm... I assume so. I certainly hope so. It would be kinda dumb if he wasn't
     
  24. outerrimjaba

    outerrimjaba Jedi Master star 1

    Registered:
    May 24, 2015

    Tarkin has a 1000' view of everything. Tactics are tools of captains and admirals who were in charge of security and day to day operations. His execution of Aresko and Grint was to get results from the higher levels of command on Lothal: Inquisitor, Minister Tua and Agent Kallus.

    The new canon book, Tarkin, has him part of the imperial triumvirate with Vader and Papaltine. He had control of the entire death star project and watched all the logistics. He had no time to be muddled up in Lothal.

    His genius was that of a polygot; military, science, philosophy and arts. He was the political force behind Palpatine's ascension...as well as a friend. The Vader comics mention the Tarkin directive with regards to robotic A.I., Vader slams Tagge's barb about Tarkin's sentinel moon project. He did not fail forward and the Rebels series showed that he is willing to sacrifice assets for a greater play. The fact that the Inquisitor failed, meant that Tarkin requested Vader's assistance.

    Fact is at this point Tarkin's modus operandi is an operational embodiment of his political/military doctrine: Fear of the Death Star. He is beyond reproach unless he ticked off Sheev, which never happened.
     
    Darth_Pevra likes this.
  25. Iron_lord

    Iron_lord Chosen One star 10

    Registered:
    Sep 2, 2012
    I never got the impression in the Tarkin novel that Tarkin contributed to Palpatine's ascension - rather the reverse, that Palpatine helped boost Tarkin's career.
     
    Jedi Knight Fett and Vorax like this.