CT Darth Vader at the end of ANH

But we needed a sequel.

 

Sure enough! Looking back it seems pretty unthinkable that SW could be anything but a success. But the 70s was a totally different age.

 

Not on paper, but once execs saw the finished product. I imagine test screenings were through the roof, if they had them.

 

And it was undoubtably a major milestone in SFX. Nobody had ever seen anything like it before. And to be fair, other than the purely visual aspects, William's score is what gave it that final touch that made it spectacular. But of course we fans have always known that.

 

I remember ANH being this tremendous word of mouth hit. Reviews were great (sorry George they mostly were) and word spread quickly and there were huge lines around the block. It played in theaters for a long time, probably a year.

 

In all likelihood Vader realizes the reaction of the Galaxy at Large to the destruction of the Emperor's Ultimate weapon. The Empire's stranglehold of fear is broken. Instead of brashly charging alone at a small group of Rebels he returns to his Master to strategize for the events to come where entire star systems would erupt into Rebellion against their autocratically appointed governors, in the immediate wake of having the meager remains of whatever representation they had left being taken from them.

 

Don't have the T-shirt, but I have the button:

 

he simply just tried spinning...

that's a good trick

 

Since I was a kid, I never went out of my way to express this belief.

 

How would Han have known who it was? If I saw a TIE fighter, even one that looked a little different from the others, I'd assume it was flown by a TIE pilot. Maybe a wing commander or squadron leader, but who would guess the pilot was the second most important being in the Empire?

Also, there were probably more TIEs out there. If Han had abandoned Luke to chase after an easy kill, it's possible another TIE could have snuck in and killed Luke. Han made the right choice and stayed with his wingman. That's why he's better than Maverick.

 

Actually on the side of the TIE fighter it said Vader. Call sign: Choker

 

I agree, I always felt in ROTS that Yoda had a slight upper hand, just the circumstances weren’t in his favor. Which I believe were Sidious hopes and plans all along.

 

I think it goes back to the idea that in the originals the real power of a force user is in there ability to plan and influence.

Vader for example we see that he's able to judge correctly that the rebel base is on Hoth when without him most likely the Imperials would either have overlooked it or would have sent an investigation force that would likely have warned the rebels rather than a full scale attack. Equally we see that he has the foresight to get to Bespin first and set up the trap for Luke that very nearly works.

 

I know. What I meant was "if". I know Han didn't know, neither did Luke. My statement was purely hypothetical. If Vader's ship had somehow happened to be in range, Han could have taken a shot.

 

Yep, that's exactly what the motif on the t-shirt looked like.

 

The rebels already dealt a surprise victory to the Empire with the destruction of the Death Star. Vader trying to fly alone to Yavin 4 not knowing what other surprises might be in store for him would border on suicide.

 

You could argue I spose Vader is the one who brings in the Imp Vader shortly afterwards to chase the Rebels off of Yavin.

I get the sense with ANH Lucas was looking to get across the sense that there was some rivary and politics in the Empire still, that the Death Star was more a weapon under the direct control of the Emperor via Tarkin and he wanted to make sure it claimed the victory of destroying the rebels hence there not being a Navy backup present.

 

As I've posted elsewhere, the photo section of the original ANH novelization includes a character description of Tarkin saying that he wants to take over and become Emperor himself. And, years later, the ANH radio series has scenes with Motti trying to convince Tarkin to use the Death Star as a way to secure more power for himself (with Motti as kingmaker). So the idea of a rivalry between Palpatine, Tarkin, Vader and all the other Imperial bigwigs is quite believable.

 

In RO Vader's in a corridor, a tight space he can control, nobody can bombard him from space and any threat has to come from his front as long as the Stormtroopers have dealt with the Rebels aboard the Profundity that can arrive from behind him. For Vader to attack Yavin IV he would need to avoid the Rebels returning to their base, avoid detection as his ship approaches the base, avoid detection as he lands because his ship can't destroy the base from the air. He would then need to isolate groups of Rebels, he can't just take on hundreds of armed Rebels in the open, sooner or later he'd be overwhelmed and shot down like the Jedi during Order 66.

 

Tarkin suggesting he could be Emperor is an idea taken from some of his dialogue in the January 1976 fourth draft script.

 

Do you think he threw up in his helmet? I think he threw up in his helmet.

 

Well to be technical, Vader's TIE was in range earlier. One TIE was destroyed and then Vader yells "WHAT?"
So Han could have shot at Vader's TIE at that moment instead of the one by his side.

I agree that Vader would not be insane enough to go attack the rebel base on his own. He need to live to fight another day and also contact the Emperor and tell him that things are now much worse.
They have disbanded the senate and planned to rule though fear of the DS and now the DS is destroyed.

Bye for now.
Old Stoneface

 

Maybe Vader's life-support suit broke it down and recycled it into nutrients, rather like a stillsuit does with poop. Quick, somebody go ask George Lucas.

 

Agreed. Best to get away, reconsider the threat and attack later.

 

I admit that I thought he died. Or maybe just assumed he did because that's what was supposed to happen in such a movie. But, I was 8 years old and maybe MY head was spinning too much from the movie I just watched. When my brother told me that Vader regained control of his ship and flew away, I didn't believe him. The reason we went back and saw the movie a 2nd time was to resolve just that dispute lol...

Of course by the end of that summer I had seen the movie probably 25 times and could quote the whole thing, so there's that. I consider myself redeemed.