ST Admiral Holdo's Hyperjump in Episode VIII

I never argued otherwise. I was just happy that the film was finally doing something visually interesting.

 

That would be worse filmmaking than it already was. It would have meant they exited hyperspace at a random place in the universe, and happened to be very close to a habitable planet, which also has an old Rebellion base. The odds of that are practically equal to zero. It is far more plausible for Evazan and Ponda Baba to be on Jedha while the events of Rogue One are unfolding. The difference is that the latter, does not affect the plot of the film at all, and it's just an easter egg for the non casual Star Wars fans.

Regarding the Malevolence, I think Glitterstimm covered me completely. I would rather not use headcannon for this part of the movie. Also, I seriously doubt Rian Johnson devoted any time in watching any of the Star Wars animated shows.

 

They spent weeks getting to Bespin though.

 

Why doesn’t the FO try to capture the Raddus and its crew instead of destroying them? In ANH and ESB the Empire likes to take prisoners so they can interrogate them and get intel, even if it means losing some of their troops. The FO does it in TFA, why not TLJ? Aren’t they still trying to find Luke and Rey? Also, if they are trying to blow up the Raddus, but are having trouble because it’s out of range, why don’t they use their miniaturized Death Star laser? Wouldn’t that be the kind of thing Hux would propose, like with SKB in TFA?

 

It's because the FO is bereft of any creativity.

One might think, but that's not that creative--well, for the FO it's more creative than they can manage.

 

Technically yes but ESB blurs over the timeframe.

Exactly. Real world astrophysics went out the window in 1980 if not 1977. I've watched TLJ 4 times and never got the impression they intended to get to Crait initially. I always assumed it was a happy accident (which occur in SW all the time thanks to the Force). Maybe I need to watch it a 5th time.

 

So they were creative enough to build it, but not to use it? Well I guess Hux is supposed to be a moron.

 

How do we know?

 

Visually interesting at times, yes; logical or emotionally resonant, not often. This is basically The Last Jedi in a nut shell.

Here's how Rian characterizes a leader with years of experience, wisdom, and a sharp intellect. An excellent tactician:

"I think it's a good idea to stay on this ship all alone, without a single droid or escape ship, because courage or something."

 

Interesting. Where's that quote from?

 

No, real astrophysics did not go out the window in 1980, or 1977. Certain aspects of it, sure. Meeting at a random place far from any star system, and then using slower than light speed to conveniently travel to a planet nearby that is both habitable and also used to have a base, is simply ludicrous and statistically impossible. Not by real world physics and standards. By SW standards. It's all about integrity.

 

I don't disagree about the statistical impossibility thing. But remember. Han also stumbles upon Bespin in the exact same way. And his old friend happens to be living there, too. You forget that the Falcon's hyperdrive wasn't working, so they were also traveling at slower than light speed. And Bespin, under Lando's control, just happened to be nearby...

 

For what it’s worth here’s my two cents on ESB vs TLJ hyperspace. My personal head-canon has long been that the Falcon hitched a ride on the Avenger. After Needa says he’ll apologize to Vader, the Avenger makes a jump to join the rest of the fleet which is grouping outside Bespin for re-fueling and searching for rebels. Why are they all in the same place at once? To shift personnel, logistics etc. It’s something the fleet occasionally does.

So why is Lando coincidentally at a system near Hoth, and running a whole city? Well that is a tough one, but I like to think that a schemer/smuggler extraordinaire like him would know about the rebel HQ on Hoth and would see Bespin as a lucrative opportunity to facilitate smuggling to them as a secret contact. Why don’t Leia and Han already know about him, especially because Han is a smuggler? Well it’s established that neither Han nor Leia are of the highest ranks in the Alliance’s command structure (Han has to get permission to leave). Some information is beyond their security clearance. However, as part of the emergency evacuation of Hoth, the Alliance leadership declassified information en-masse that they thought would assist rebel cells as they dispersed and evaded the Empire. In any case, the best way to resolve a coincidental meeting, the best explanation is to find what commonalities would bring the two of them together: they are both smugglers, they hate the empire, and they are interested in helping the Alliance.

And incidentally, this helps explain how Vader knows to look for them on Bespin. Maybe he or some other agent interrogated other rebels, learned about the rebel network on Bespin, and planted agents on Cloud City to monitor arrivals, and they saw the Falcon come in. This explanation is useful if you don’t think Boba Fett would have enough time to alert Vader and get him to occupy Bespin all from the moment the Falcon detaches from the Avenger to when it arrives. (Because I do think Lando is telling the truth or something close to it when he says “They arrived right before you did”)

The main reasons these explanations work imo, is because A) they take place over an ambiguous timeline, and B) they take place over ambiguous distances. I don’t like the TLJ space chase because it enjoys neither, and thus feels extremely limiting in its allowance for head cannon. Even if you forget about the questions over why the Supremacy doesn’t launch waves of TIE fighters, it still doesn’t make sense that the FO would not see that Crait is this big planet they are about to fly past and send ships/soldiers to intercept them. It's not that it doesn't make sense that Crait would be nearby to D'Qar, it's that the mechanics of getting their in the midst of the chase don't make sense imo.

 

I rewatched TLJ last night, and an amazing contradiction stood out to me. BB-8 saves the day by driving an AT-ST. And yet, the resistance has no droids to fly their ships in order to save human lives. And again, years before, in Solo, we have Lando's L3 who helps pilot the Falcon.

It's writing like that that makes you wonder about Rian Johnson's paycheck.

 

Literally every fighter the resistance used had an astromech like R2 or BB or a similar model, one designed to help manage systems and maintain control. L3 is literally the one and only droid we've seen who actually acts a physical co-pilot like Chewbacca. Droids actually flying ships entirely on their own is incredibly rare - not to mention Poe's vainglorious assault on the Dreadnaught cost them a lot of single-pilot fighters as well as literally every bomber they had. The escape pods were their only viable means of escape and can't be steered by human or droid.

 

A-Wing and B-Wing? Z-95 headhunter?

They have always been in the EU. Emkay from X-Wing Alliance and Leebo from Shadows of the Empire, Even Theepio could fly the Falcon, and I seem to remember him piloting in TCW in canon. They also have shuttles with just a droid pilot in Rebels. There is absolutely no reason that a droid couldn't have done what Holdo did. Really they should have a 0T-T0 droid especially for the situation of needing a expendable pilot.

 

I'm not sure what escape pods have to do with it. Surely a droid could have been used instead of Holdo so she didn't have to sacrifice her life.

 

Omg, I can't believe I forgot 3PO! Thank you for reminding me!

 

What do you mean ? 3PO flew Padme's ship in ROTS and Count Dooku had his own droid pilot in AOTC. And if you only want to take into account the OT, you don't think IG88 flew its own starship ?

Edit -Glitterstimm beat me to it.

 

Oh my, if even the dumb battle droids can pilot, what does that say the TLJ screenplay? That's putting on a big "ouching."

 

But isn’t it more about the FO being able detect the difference between a ship with droids on it and ship with organic life forms on it?

 

Lol, seriously right? And uh, this might be dark, but, why didn't Leia order 3PO to stay behind and pilot the Raddus and then do the suicide ram after the FO passed by Crait? Does she really love him that much more than her old pal Holdo? I mean, it wouldn't be the first time he was blown to bits, maybe they could fix him after.

So this would mean that life-form detecting sensors can't see the difference between hundreds of lives on a capital ship vs. just one? Because that's the situation they'd be in after the Raddus is evacuated. In that case couldn't they leave behind a Tauntaun or something?

I don't think that's part of the reasoning behind Holdo's plan.

 

Well, it may be dark, but it makes perfect sense, and it's something Rian should have thought about if he had any understanding of Star Wars.

Either he knows droids can pilot ships and doesn't care because he wants his faux Holdo drama, or he doesn't know. If he doesn't know, he has no business writing the screenplay (and where is the Story Group to set him straight?). If he does know and just wants to ignore it, he also shouldn't be writing Star Wars because he cares more for faux drama than respecting the world.

But we already know that in his approach to Luke Skywalker.