Rogue One Why Did It Have to Be a Suicide Mission?

I posted this in the MEME thread but it does bring up an interesting point...

 

The idea that an Imperial droid would be allowed to waltz into a highly-secure vault, by itself, and allowed to take a really sensitive piece of hardware is far more ridiculous than what actually occurred in the film. Impersonating human officers was likely necessary for being able to get as far as they did. Just another dumb meme.

 

I don't get your logic. R2-D2 (who's not an imperial droid) "waltzed" right onto the death star and got whatever info he wanted. Same with the Cloud City computer system.

There were imperial droids just like K-2SO walking around Scarif including the one that K-2SO got info from.

From what we saw in RO and other SW movies there's no reason to believe that K-2SO couldn't just walk in and get the plans.

 

Well, his flight into the facility would have raised a red flag (a security droid piloting a transport ship?). Secondly, it was Cassian who came up with the idea of accosting another K2 unit to access a map of the complex. And I don't believe he had clearance to enter the data vault: if you'll recall, he had to knock the technician out, thus putting an end to the trio's attempt at an infiltration. Also, he would not have known about "Stardust". Had he been sent alone, suspicious storm troopers would have eventually captured him and run a diagnostics as they had threatened to do on Jeddah.

Regarding Artoo's success on the Death Star, it should be remembered that there was an emergency that doubtless was prioritized by the personnel on the station. Also, I think the astromech was less of a threat.

 

I actually kinda agree with a lot of this. Though I don't see why K-2SO couldn't have landed the ship. He had access to all the info needed. That said I think K-2SO could have at least gotten to the data vault level but not beyond that without some kind of trickery or force.

He may or may not have been able to figure out the "Stardust" thing if he'd have interfaced into the imperial computer systems (he did not have that opportunity in the movie leaving Cassian and Jyn to figure it out on their own).

 

Huh? R2 didn't do that himself. Luke and Han took out the officers who were manning the place. Plus, in RO we're talking about a highly secure database. A droid waltzing in by himself and asking to be let into the vault would likely have been highly unusual without explicit authorization/ clearance from a human Imperial officer. This is just another poor example of "plot hole hunting." And it's thinner than a robin's egg.

 

Not trying to start a flame war but you seem to be getting very defensive.

Yes Rogue One has some plot holes. But not as bad as some other Star Wars offenses like:

• <removing list of examples after seeing forum warning>

At minimum I think K-2SO could have at least nearly pulled off the mission on his own. The only possible resistance he would have is on the data vault level. Up until that point imperial droids were walking freely around Scarif. As for landing, nobody actually looked inside the ship to see who was flying it. K-2 was more than capable if providing the code, etc... himself to land.

 

You don't think it would be unusual and therefore suspicious for a security droid to be piloting a transport? The ship did have a welcoming committee (which was how Cassian and Jyn got their uniforms), and K2 would have had to use force to deal with them. Without a distraction to occupy the attention of the base's security personnel, his handiwork would have been discovered and his capture inevitable.

I don't see why Kay-Tuesso would connect "Stardust" with Galen, and there would have been no reason for Jyn to tell him to be on the lookout for it.

 

I don't think it's fun asking "Well why didn't they just do this?" with regard to plot because 99% of the time it's because it would have been boring, and I'm willing to forgive a story/characters for not doing the smart thing when the dumb thing was so much better.

That said, the mission as it happened was fine. I think you're just overestimating K-2's autonomy and abilities. This is the droid whose response to questioning stormtroopers was "I'm taking these prisoners... to imprison them... in prison." He needs a human with him on the ground to direct him towards what he's good at. As mentioned by others, he almost certainly would have been restrained by an inspection team wondering how this droid ended up by itself on an empty shuttle. And if he fought them off, well, raise the alarm--this is no longer a secret infiltration and he has absolutely no backup.

 

I'd entertain this slight poke at Rogue One as legitimate if it made more sense than what was in the film. But it doesn't. It seems a human in an officer's uniform was important for getting through different levels of security (including on the landing pad). End of story.

Not to mention that without the diversion set by the Rogue One crew (all the explosions), the team responsible for stealing the plans would have likely never made it to the data vault. All Imperial attention is on the explosions, and the Rebel attack. That's why Cassian, Jyn and K2 have such an easy time getting to the data vault. Without that, as K2 himself said after looking at a map of the place, their likelihood of being killed was very high.

 

As coervus just said, K2 was not very convincing as an Imp droid. Remember that Cassian had reprogrammed him, and I haven't seen any evidence that Cassian was a professional droid programmer, so the resulting behavior was obviously a bit erratic. He wouldn't have gotten very far on his own without calling attention to himself.

 

See, what they should have done was just call the base at Scarif on the phone and pretend to be Krennic. Then tell them that he needed a copy of the Death Star plans brought to another location for a "very important Imperial meeting", and then ambush the guy who brought the plans there. Boom. Done.

 

To me, this is a complaint along the lines of "Why didn't they just use the eagles" that is often thrown at Lord of the Rings; it derives from the same hyper-logical mindset that infects internet film criticism that prioritizes nitpicking the plot (and looking for one that is 100% logical and realistic) over what emotions that the piece evokes.

 

That's an excellent script you just wrote. Consider sending it to LFL?

 

LOL...ya it's exactly like that.

Of course if the Eagles fly Frodo to Mordor then there's no movie/story. Same with K-2 getting the plans.

That said, I give up. Too many people defending Disney to the death here. I'm realistic enough to know that Star Wars has more than a few plot holes and/or inconsistencies (and Rogue One certainly doesn't have the worst offenses in this category) but I can enjoy the movies anyway.

 

Wat.

 

People are simply discussing the movies logically, not "defending Disney to the death".

 

I generally agree. The only difference, in this case, is that it's not a plot hole. It's a perfectly logical story choice, and the alternative you've presented is even less logical. But don't mind me. I'm on Di$ney's payroll and can't be trusted.

Re: the eagles, in the books they were uncontrollable spirits of nature that helped when they felt like it. Not to mention that Sauron would have spotted them and send the Nazgul to take them out. Or just done it himself. Secrecy and discreetness was key.

 

Oh no! One of Disney's long, amorphous, tentacles has reached the administration.

But really, I do believe we are all in agreement that the suicide mission-y bit is fine?

 

Bigger point is that it wasn't a suicide mission even though the end results suggests otherwise. The Rogue One group obviously knew that this would be a dangerous mission, but Cassan wanted Bodhi to 'keep the engine running' on the ship so when they did steal the Death Star plans, they would fly out of Scarif back to the Rebel Base.

 

Ya'll need to chillax. The meme was made for fun. This is the no fun forum