In A New Hope, what the heck is Vader twisting in his TIE Fighter?

I've always wondered what Vader was twisting around in his TIE Fighter since it seemed tha most other pilots just kept their hands on the control sticks. I just finished watching A New Hope last night and it really started to bug me.

Does anyone know or is this just a mystery?

 

He was tuning into another radio station. Never did like John William's music.

 

He's got a 2-litre bottle of Diet Coke (just Coke in the O-OT) mounted onto the dashboard that he's getting the top off so he can stick a great long straw in

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Sorry Polvin Kut, I guess we're not helping you much(there's just too much comic possiblity in this question). I think the twist-thing is just a mystery.

 

Ah ok. It's just so awkward looking...he must be doing it for some reason, or maybe it's just a habbit.

 

Inside Vader's head: "Aha... I have you now...Oh, no there's a knob on my dashboard! No, Vader! Don't! Don't twist it! But I must!" (quickly twists the knob to satisfy his obsessive-compulsive behaviour, then goes back to actually flying his ship).

 

I believe that is one of the control surfaces for manevering the TIE.

Don't forget that Vader will be moving around in the trench trying to shoot down X-Wings while his "wingmen" will be pretty much flying in a straight line as they are just there to provide "cover" (read: take a shot instead of Vader)

 

Well, there you have it, I guess.

 

It did seem like the twisting may have affected his targeting computer, like in one scene it started to show him twist, and in the next his targeting computer started twisting around and what not.

 

Yea. I always thought it had to do with his targeting computer.

 

Maybe it's what ships have in the games. that calibration thingy that sets how far away the laser bolts will meet.
or maybe not....

 

Haha when we were little my brother and I always thought it was a Pepsi bottle.

 

Maybe he was adjusting the sensitivity of one of his instruments, and I mean that in a completely unperverted way.

Or... maybe he was playing pong. You know, turning the knob like a pong paddle. Well, it was the 70s...

 

perhaps since he is such a good pilot, even his custom tie fighter's defaults dont do him justice, so he is calibrating some really specific thingy to fly just like the pro he is.

 

Maybe it was just something Dave Prowse (that would have been him in the suit during that scene, right? Sorry, I'm tired) was told to do in order to make it look like Vader was going to be doing something important on screen.

Either that, or he was twisting the night away...

 

Inside Vader's head: "Aha... I have you now...Oh, no there's a knob on my dashboard! No, Vader! Don't! Don't twist it! But I must!" (quickly twists the knob to satisfy his obsessive-compulsive behaviour, then goes back to actually flying his ship).

 

I remember reading somewhere that it was meant to be a homage to old fighter planes, where the pilot/gunner/bombers would have to tweak little knobs etc to set their targets. So yes, the idea was that by tweaking the little knob he was tuning his targetting computer.

 

From Jedimancer:

Inside Vader's head: "Aha... I have you now...Oh, no there's a knob on my dashboard! No, Vader! Don't! Don't twist it! But I must!" (quickly twists the knob to satisfy his obsessive-compulsive behaviour, then goes back to actually flying his ship).


!!!!


From C-3RDI:

Maybe he was adjusting the sensitivity of one of his instruments, and I mean that in a completely unperverted way.


!!! I don't care if you didn't mean that in a perverted way, it was hilarious. !

Summer

 

Well I always thought it had something to do with the targeting. Anyway, I find this move enjoyable because it makes the chase scene feel more dramatic to me.

 

'Kut'?

MWUUUUHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

I had a friend in junior high who joked that Vader was trying to open a jar of Tang in that scene.

 

I thought he was zero-calibrating his newly-installed joystick!

...Kinda late for that wasn't it? Maybe that's part of the reason he collided with one of his wingmen...

 

No detail escapes the attention of the
obsessive Star Wars fan base.