CT Why didn't Han use his reward in ANH to pay off Jabba?

I was talking about Vader, not the Empire at large. I never said that Vader didn't know about the Falcon, just that he wasn't interested in it when he's looking for Luke. It isn't until Luke gets away that he takes an interest in the Falcon and only to lure Luke out, much like he went to Tatooine due to his mother.

 

Going by just the movies, do we know that three years passed in between ANH and ESB or the movies suggest a shorter amount of time? If ESB occurs soon enough after ANH, maybe Han didn't have time to pay off Jabba.

 

i wrote this in another plot holes thread...

"did you miss the part at the end of a new hope where han is collecting his money and about to leave? luke says we could use you ba bla. he stays and saves the day and during the beginning of empire he's still planning on paying jabba but stuff happens."

the rebellion is on the run between these events and han sticks around then for leia obviously.

 

I've never actually understood why Harrison thinks that of Han. Han makes some very clever moves in TESB. He decides to hide inside an asteroid in the asteroid belt, and it seems like he was only discovered because he was unlucky enough to choose an asteroid with a space slug in it. Once things start to seem weird inside the asteroid, Han is the only one who figures out that he's inside a living creature. Then Han does the very clever maneuver of faking an attack on the bridge of the star destroyer so that he can hide behind it and give the impression that he has jumped to hyperspace, and as the Imperial fleet departs, they just float away with the garbage. Han may be rash, but he never struck me as stupid. In fact, he may be the smartest guy in the OT besides Palpatine.

Chewie does owe Han a life debt, so Han could've sent Chewie and Chewie would've been obligated to do as Han asked. Whether Han would've asked Chewie to do so is another matter.

 

He probably used the reward to make some extra special modifications to the falcon

 

Three years? The opening crawl suggests Hoth is where they fled directly after Yavin, and they had not been there long enough to adapt the speeders to the cold.

Although there is a layover in Ord Mandrell, and a run-in with a bounty hunter there.

Han evidently thought that being with the Rebellion would keep him out of harm's way, as far as Jabba's scum goes ("I thought you had decided to stay.")

The Falcon breaks down. He is about to leave, then the probe droid shows up. Then "I'll leave .... first I'm going to get you to your ship."

I think it was just that his life was just too hectic, one crisis after another ... like the Force was willing him to stay.

 

The question is - how long did the Empire take to drive them off Yavin, and how long did they spend looking for a new base?

Three years comes from the TESB novel.

 

Yes, IIRC canon states that there are three years between ANH & ESB, just like in reality (i.e., 3 years between the actual films).

RE: the OP as to why Han didn't pay off Jabba after ANH, great question: After Han & Chewie helped Luke destroy the Death Star, I'm guessing they just decided to stick around for whatever reason, i.e. proximity to Leia, Han wanting to belong somewhere (since he & Chewie had been loners for so long), etc. However, based on what we see in the beginning of ESB (i.e., Han's conversation with General Rieekan), Han's intention at that point was to go pay off Jabba....but this intention was side-tracked by the arrival of the Probot & Empire's invasion.

 

The evidence suggests Han still had the reward money onboard the Falcon when he went to Cloud City. It always seemed to me he was approaching Lando with his hat in his hand, looking for free repairs because they'd been caught out.

In fact, he could have paid handsomely for the mechanical services, no?

 

he's not gonna pay if he can get it for free.

 

As far as the time frame between ANH and ESB, I would imagine it took quite a bit of time to build the base on Hoth. Wasn't like their was a market where they could go buy secret hidden bases. With building it then moving the equipment in, I would imagine it took quite a bit of time, while the Rebellion was hoping around the Galaxy in the fleet.

 

One of the blueprints books (inadmissible, I realize), states that the Hoth base was years in the making, but they accelerated their plans to relocate there when Yavin fell.

It was pretty cool, excuse the pun, to see the blueprints for the base, where the hangar was in relation to the command post, etc. All this stuff had to be figured out before they started shooting the film.

 

Or perhaps the question of Han's delay in paying off the debt to Jabba was badly handled.

 

*sigh* Badly handled by Han, perhaps, but not the script. The reasons are all implied in the movie if you're paying attention.

 

There's no reason he shouldn't have paid. It probably wouldnt have even taken much time from his Rebellion escapades. Maybe like a week tops.

 

As far as I can tell, the three years timeframe between movies wasn't some crazy EU shenanigans. It was something that was in the novelization, and may very well have been established by the film production team itself. And like was pointed out, there are things in the movie that would tend to support the notion that a fair amount of time has passed. Han and Leia seem to have a bit more of a history together, the gang apparently had some time for an adventure on Ord Mantell, Luke is already the commander of his own squadron, etc.

 

How was it implied in the movie? I only remember Han telling General Rieekan that he is a dead man if he doesn't pay off Jabba. And I remember him telling Leia that the bounty hunter he had encountered on Ord Mantell reminded him of the debt he owned and that bounty hunters are still after him. The movie DID NOT explain why Han had failed to pay his debt to Jabba, right after the Battle of Yavin or in the three years that followed.

 

Dude, I've already explained this endlessly to you. But since it appears you never read my posts, I don't see the point of going over it again. Just go back and re-read this thread.

 

I'm a woman and my name isn't "Dude".


Also, I read your post. What I had read did not seem like an explanation to me . . . just an assumption. And your post failed to convince me that TESB made it clear why Han had failed to pay off Jabba over a three-year period.

 

part of sw is not having to explain everything that happens in between films.

 

This sounds like an excuse so that fans can pretend there are no writing errors in the ESB plot.

 

not everybody needs every little detail spelled out for them. i don't think many people obsess about why han hadn't paid jabba back yet. bottom line: they were busy.

 

*rolls eyes* It's a figure of speech, relax. I'm a woman, too. It's how my friends and I interact with each other. Stop getting your panties in a bunch over every little thing.

As for the argument, I have nothing else to say. You are obviously someone who's very literal and need things perfectly spelled out for you, while I'm a viewer who appreciates being expected to "read between the lines" once in awhile. (And really, it's not that hard to "read between the lines" when most of it is right there in the dialogue).

Listen….no, wait. *bites tongue*. I'm not interested in getting into trouble on here, so let's just say that I really have no interest in taking this debate further with you. Okay? And leave it at that.

 

If it is 3 years between ANH and ESB then it is problematic. If it were a year then not as much. Keep busy looking for a base, wanting to keep an eye on Luke, etc. Maybe the money was stolen? Maybe he gave it back? Maybe he paid it but Jabba didn't accept it?
Wanting to keep an eye on Luke and Leia is my guess.

 

how about the entire empire hunting them?