Luke, the instant fighter pilot

My apologies if this has been discussed before (please point me to the relevant thread), but how does Luke, a farmboy, suddenly become a fighter pilot in the course of ANH? From the moment Luke is thrown into the adventure on Tatooine, to the briefing on Yavin IV, we don't see him pilot anything or undergo any pilot training. He mentions being a "good pilot", but 1) it's never demonstrated to the viewers, 2) every teenage boy brags about being a great driver/sportsman/marksman etc, 3) even if he's had some flying experience, it doesn't mean he can fly a particular fighter craft on a combat mission. On Earth, doesn't the training of a fighter pilot take months, if not years, and cost millions? Do the Rebels just hand out an X-Wing to any farmboy who shows up on Yavin IV?

 

The T-16 Skyhopper Luke owns has controls that mimic those of an X-Wing, and the Death Star run was just like Beggar's Canyon back home. Not to mention he had the Force on his side.

 

Luke was a good pilot, for the same reason Anakin was a good pod racer.....

His driving skills were doubled because of the Force and I don't think that the controls of the X-Wing should be a problem....

 

Incom Corporation produced both the X-wing and the T-16 skyhopper, and the controls were similar for both vehicles, so Luke had no trouble adapting to the X-wing. Plus, Biggs vouched for him.

 

the legendary deleted biggs scene has luke and biggs talking about lukes piloting skills, as others have said the incom t-16 skyhopper handles like a x-wing, obi wan mentions about luke being a good pilot,obi wan prob picking up on lukes force instincts during his racing around begger canyon

 

I remember reading the scripts for the ANH radio dramatization, and it has Luke go through a flight simulator at the Rebel base, overseen by Biggs, before the battle.

 

"Luke's the best bush pilot in the outer rim".

He comes well recommended by Biggs.

I also dont see why the rebels would bother putting him into a flight simulator unless Luke requested it. I mean, they've probably got excess fighters and not enough pilots. The base is huge and there's only 30 pilots posted for the mission. We don't see any left behind at Luke's expense. Many probably see it as a suicide mission. If Luke is willing to go, the only expense is an X-Wing and, as I say, if they have them spare, there's no reason not to give him one if he thinks he can do a job. No point having had all your ships destroyed, about to be blown-up and an eager young pilot sitting there in the base doing nothing.

 

Actually, you are quite right: a movie should be self-contained and self-explicative to the viewers, and we should not have to go to the theatre knowing that the T-16 and the X-wing are made by the same company or that they have the same controls. It should be shown in the movie. Also, Biggs vouching for Luke was cut and didn't make it to the final product. There is, however, one instant that could, maybe, save that particularly awkward moment: Ben does say "I understand that you're becoming quite a good pilot yourself" - which clearly implies that Luke actually has a reputation as a pilot which goes beyond his own potential for bragging.

But I agree, that moment is awkward, and I can quite empathize with Han's initial scepticism towards Luke - "flying through space ain't like dusting crops, boy". The kid doesn't even seem to know his way through a cockpit when they leave Tatooine, asking himself around the flashing lights, and he needs that explanation about hyperspace navigation. This does make it odd that he's just accepted to fly the X-wing. It's one of the few weak plot points of ANH, in my opinion.

 

Somewhere in the SW canon there was a flight simulator test for Luke after reaching the base. Biggs oversaw this test, and Luke passed, thus he was given a ship.

 

At the time this movie was made, audiences were more acceptive of this type of slightly unrealistic development relative to skill or talent. Actually, they were more acceptive of movies being "unrealistic" in general, especially sci fi and adventures. Nobody would ever say "that would never happen" or "that's impossible" or "how can he/she do that" - because movies were entertainment, far fetched and exotic initially. Serious films were the anomoly. Now a days, we accept those things only when it is made clear that we are supposed to. We go in with a frame of mind that what we will see is going to be realistic unless supernatural, etc. If made today, I am sure you'd have an onscreen lead in "3 months later after intense training" before Luke got to flying about space.

However, that would really ruin the whole other idea - that Skywalkers can fly with the force due to that prescience they have and the natural born ability to both work on craft and fly them. The Force is with them, which is not only why Luke didn't require lessons, but why lil Anakin could win the podrace and why Luke could blast up the Death Star without any locaters and only using the Force.

 

Radio drama, as mentioned above. It also began with a race between Luke & Fixer through Beggar's Canyon in their skyhoppers.

Not sure if it made it into any drafts, but there were meant to be scenes with Luke (or Annikin) flying a skyhopper earlier. All that made it to the film was a glimpse of the back of one in Luke's workshop, & a mention of the race during the deleted scenes with Biggs in Anchorhead.

 

Luke is a gearhead.

 

Luke is basically an Anakin redux. He learns at an astounding rate when it comes to the Force, has incredible potential, and is a natural pilot and mechanic (the latter is evidenced by him doing the maintenance on Threepio and his X-wing by himself, and is even highlighted by Old Ben thinking "He's as good at fixing things as Anakin was" in The Life and Legend of Obi-Wan Kenobi).

I think the more suspect instance is ANAKIN the instant fighter pilot, in TPM. Really, he just fumbles around the cockpit and HAPPENS to know what he's doing? (yeah, yeah, the Force, but STILL!).

 

According to his interchange with Ric Olie, he "catches on quick", which probably has a lot to do with his podracing experience as well as the Force. It more or less parallels Luke, in the sense that both of them had prior experience with "planet-based" piloting ( podracer or skyhopper ) that translated to spaceflight.

 

I agree - in the original cut of ANH (1977) it's strongly implied that Luke is already a great pilot prior to the DS battle in ANH - this is based on the comments he makes to Wedge during the Rebel briefing, and the comment he makes to Biggs about "Beggar's Canyon back home" during the DS run (plus, you can see the T-16 Skyhopper in the background at one point during the Tattoine scenes, which implies that he has flown this ship at some point). And, the whole scene of Luke turning off his targeting computer and using the force to destroy the DS shows that his skills as a pilot are quite enhanced by the force, implying that he has an edge over all of the other fighter pilots.

However, the scene/meeting in the Rebel hanger bay between Biggs & Luke serves to really enhance the idea that Luke is a great fighter pilot, since Biggs brags to the Rebel commander about Luke's skills as a pilot - I still don't understand why this scene was cut from the original 1977 release, but was very glad when it was finally edited back into the 1997 SE version of ANH. If this scene had been kept in all along, then the idea of Luke being a great pilot would have been much more clear.

 

Most arguments about x-wings and t-16 controls are true. Though I have another view.

Ultimately regarding the situation within the movie, I believe that George intended the audience to suspend their disbelief. If we let go, we just assume that Luke is an amazing pilot after hearing some dialogue from Biggs and the fact that he is force sensitive. Also it was just easier to move the story along. Though that's what the EU is for, to take the foundations that the movies have laid out and then delve deeper into the details.

 

I hadn't heard that the T-16 and X-Wing were made by the same company, I think that's cool, but hardly necessary. I didn't have a hard time believing that Luke could handle the fighter and destroy the Death Star. One person mentioned suspending believe, which is important, but this is also a hero's story, and although there was some suspense, a fat fighter pilot and Luke's best friend from home had to die, there was no way he wasn't going to succeed. I think that was pretty evident even before all the talk about Joseph Campbell being one of the influences in Star Wars. Between Luke's comment about Beggar's Canyon, Bigg's endorsement, the Force and Obi-Wan on his side I'm satisfied with what was provided in the movie to justify his success in the Trench Run. Actually I think it was better illustrated for Luke in ANH than Anakin in TPM.

 

Red Leader gave Luke a vote of confidence originally too-at first he was pretty freaking skeptical to say the least, but then he found out Luke was Anakin's son and goes "If you're half as good as your father you'll do all right."

 

Pity Lucas decided to cut that line when he reinserted that particular scene into the 1997 SE. (There's a digital person walking across the foreground to hide the cut--yet another unnecessary SE revision aided by CGI.) It would've been a great little character-building moment. Sadly, those sort of "moments" don't seem at all important to Lucas or his editors (a phenomenon that recurred with a vengeance in the final edit of AOTC).

 

Want some cheese with that wine? it's a good scene and all, but it's not that huge a deal it was cut.

 

Whining about whining..... * giggle *

 

I would have been confused if they left that line in. If that happened, I would have been wondering whether that guy knew that Anakin went bad. Having read the ANH novel after seeing all six movies, I felt distracted by that line so I'm glad it was ultimately cut. And I personally don't feel like it added anything to anyone's character. At this point in time, I think it's best that Luke has minimal knowledge about his father. But I do agree that there were too many character moments cut from AOTC.

 

Putting that line back in would have just created utter confusion. It might have made sense in 1977, but after 1983 it became well & truly redundant.

"Oh, I saw your father fly when I was a kid, great pilot, but man did he turn out wrong, killing Jedi, torturing Rebels & all that... anyway, you seem like a nice kid, so good luck, Luke!"

Incidentally (& it's probably worthy of its own thread), in current canon, what was the 'official' in-universe story about what happened to Anakin Skywalker, Jedi Knight & hero of the Clone Wars? I seem to recall reading something recently about Red Leader being written into TCW, pretty much to accommodate that deleted exchange with Luke.

 

There were a couple stories floating around about Anakin post-ROTS. One was that he was killed on Mustafar by Darth Vader. Another was that he was killed defending the Jedi Temple from Order 66. And the last one I'm aware of was that he was the only Jedi loyal to Palpatine and (I think) he was killed by Mace's pitiful little band.

They're all true...from a certain point of view.

 

Most people heard about Anakin's exploits in the Clone Wars (and there were many), so having Red Leader fly alongside Anakin for some of the battles and being impressed by his piloting skills makes perfect sense. There is no reason for Red Leader to have known Anakin become Vader later on.