CT What did you think of the Tantive IV battle with the Stormtroopers?

I personally would have liked to have seen more of the Stormtroopers in that scene. I'm curious to know other thoughts on this.

 

Way back in 77, they were amazing. Instantly established themselves as a force to be reckoned with. It's a pity we didn't see much more of them doing what they do and doing it well. I think there should have been at least a couple of shots if not full scenes of them wiping out rebels on Hoth. That could have kept up the aura of danger longer. But they were pretty much done after Ewoks walked all over them at Endor.

 

They were dope

 

I dunno. They couldn't hit two droids crossing over a hallway.

Then again, neither could the Rebels. So maybe it's all moot.

 

They weren't trying to hit the droids. Those were obviously not battledroids, and they were not attacking the stormtroopers. The troopers wisely kept their focus on shooting at the rebels who were shooting back and didn't get distracted by irrelevant obstacles on the battlefield.

 

When I first saw it as a kid, I assumed that the Rebels were all Canadian as one of them was a spitting image of one of my dad's Canadian workmates. Go figure.

Having watched it somewhat more recently (last night) after watching RO the day before.. wow. There's a WHOLE more at stake now that you know more or less what the rebel soliders literally went through to get to that point.

Other than the laser blast rotoscoping looking a tad dated, Vader's entrance is still one of the most iconic scenes in modern Scifi ..

 

Disciplined, I like that.

Of course, the Rebels wouldn't shoot them either. Who would own up to blasting the Captain's personal droids?

 

You make an excellent point. I still play that Darth Vader entrance out in my imagination on a fairly regular basis.

 

When I initially saw it as a child, I was unnerved by the violence. And I thought the Rebel soldier with the grey hair was going to be a major character, since they had zoomed in on him.

 

I always thought the laser blasts in ANH looked perfect mostly, unlike some in ROTJ, especially during that desert battle. In some shots the blasts are actually darker than the background, which looks very fake. Same as a candle flame is invisible against a bright background, nor does it have a shadow, the same should be true for lasers. In ANH the only shot I remember where they didn't get that right was at the battle of Yavin, where Luke fires on the DS surface.

 

I thought the battle was great, especially as a kid, but even now I think it's cool. Sure, it would have been cool if they'd shown a bit more of the stormtroopers wreaking havoc and destruction (in all three Classic Trilogy movies) in order to build up the threat, but I guess we have to keep the movie to a reasonable length and all.

 

An awesome battle. It showcased the might of the Empire.

Interestingly, watching post ROTS, one could almost wonder, Who are the good guys then?

I almost imagine the Robot Chicken sketch with Take your daughter to work day.



One interesting thing is how the opening shot of them boarding with the door being taken out. Then the advance inward. And Vader's entry and the standing to attention. Beautiful.

The troopers take prisoners, and them searching the ship and setting their weapons to stun.

I wonder if that first Stormtrooper who entered the ship and took a hit, had told his comrades in the docking arm, Right now I feel like I could take on the whole Rebellion myself!

 

Stormtroopers were the perfect soldiers in ANH. This is one of the few scenes that showcased that beautifully. Of course we were all on edge during the Death Star, but it became evident that despite the usual plot armor, they were given orders to let the heroes escape. Nothing about the Stormtroopers was a joke in this movie (aside from the head-bumping one).

 

"Check this side of the street." "Uh, it's locked. Those droids can't be in here. Next..."

 

The ewoks along with jar jar binks and the gungans are the most overtly ridiculous things in the entire Star Wars galaxy! Like I said before the filmmaker's should've went ahead with the dark and way, way better original story idea for Return of the Jedi. Now getting back to the Stormtroopers boarding the Tantive IV about an hour after the events of the Battle of Scarif, they were of course amazing. The filmmaker's of episodes V and VI should've had the Stormtroopers shoot Leia, Han or Lando like in the leg or shoulder or something like that. If I was in charge of those Star Wars movies that is what I would've had done, make the Stormtroopers much more of a threat.

 

This sequence is one of my favorites in the saga. I wish the sound effects had a bit better sound quality (mainly the blasters), but that's a minor thing. IMO it's even more amazing that it starts out the film with a bang that way! ROTS and TFA both did this as well, and I think it's a great and exhilarating way to start a film, really capturing the viewer right away.

It's even more awesome when watching Rogue One right before it!

 

Yeah agree with everyone here that was a cool entrance scene.

 

I thought so as well! Indeed, I even thought he was Luke Skywalker.

 

I was definitely frightened by the stormtroopers. I found Vader terrifying when he snapped the captain's neck.

 

first scene with the storm troopers and lord vader had me hooked as a kid and still am to this day to say i loved it would be an understatement

 

I absolutely adore that scene.

 

We had a long hallway in my home growing up, so of course I used to grab my Stormtrooper rifle and reenact it frequently. But watching it now, I'm just wondering how the Rebels failed to hold that position. I mean, get behind the corner where there's some cover, and just blast away at that door. Three or four dead piled up, no one else is coming through lol

 

Love seeing Vader come in. The one that started it all.

 

From what I remember there weren't that many places for the Rebels to hide. And blast away at the door is pretty much what they did. But no matter what strategy, they would have lost in any case. They were hopelessly outnumbered, the ship itself trapped inside the star destroyer. They had no place to go. Had that one door been blocked the stormtroopers could simply have blasted another hole, then used poison gas or whatever and then safely entered the Tantive IV. However I wonder why they didn't destroy the whole ship after they had Leia. They wanted the DS plans destroyed and the location of the Rebel base, no need to let anyone else survive. Or did they destroy it? In the movie it's not clear what happened to the Tantive IV and survivors later. Are there any sources that tell us? Or did they take the whole ship back to the DS for some reason?

 

Thanks for the reminder, now that I finished my study of the Lost Scenes of 2001, I'll intend to return to the Tantive IV to have those plans finished and delivered I had planned to do a year ago.

According to my Tantive IV research, Antilles and crew withdraw from the hammerhead command section, hoping Devastator's boarding party would instantly go to the computer room, realize they had received no transmissions and then would start to talk (I still don't buy the 'official' Rogue One explanation).
According to the March 1976 screenplay and novelization:

VADER
This ship carries the crest of Alderaan. Is any of the royal family on board? Who were you carrying?

So he was certain there was a royal member of the family aboard that probably had the information he wanted and needed to be kept alive, so his stormtroopers had to take out Leia's guards one by one to eventually get to her.

According to the aforementioned screenplay and novelization

COMMANDER
She’ll die before she gives you any information.
VADER
Leave that to me. Send a distress signal. Call it a meteorite storm. Then inform her father and the senate that all aboard were killed.
...
VADER
They must have put the tapes in the repair pod. Send a detachment down to retrieve them be subtle. Don’t attract attention… vaporize this ship. Don’t leave anything.

Unfortunately the fate of Leia's surviving defenders is unclear. Now, Threepio's expectation to be send to the Spice mines of Kessel could have only applied to droids (sorry, still have to watch SOLO). Somehow I'm confident that Vader put all the Tantive IV survivors in one room, locked it up and "vaporized" them along with the ship to leave no witnesses.

And I'd be pretty certain that he made that clear to Leia, i.e. her defenders were the ones paying the price for her lack of cooperation and that nobody would ever learn about her fate.