CT Secrets of the Rebel Blockade Runner Tantive IV unveiled

@Mange

The drafts are finished but are still waiting for final visualization. I guess my problem was / is that I wanted to make the presentation of these deck plans as perfect and elaborate as possible, but just didn't have the necessary time to get it done, yet. And I have to admit that I got side-tracked as I got caught up in an article doing an in-depth evaluation for the accurate sizes for both Death Stars (which is almost done). But it's good to see you're still interested and will hopefully deliver soon.

 

Oh, I'm still interested! And I'm very much looking forward to your DS work (though I don't think much can be said about the first one, especially not with mcQuarrie's late production sketch).

 

I assume you are referring to his "92 miles" suggestion which I did cover and illustrate. I sent you an invitation to the conversation group with the necessary links.

 

Exactly! Thanks!

 

I've spent a lot of time researching what the Rebel Blockade Runner Tantive IV sequence used to look like in theatres back in 1977 (and in 1997, since the 1997 special edition was color timed using a 1977 technicolor print as a color reference). The original look of the first installment in the Star Wars saga has changed quite dramatically over the years, particulary when the film was digitally graded for the 2004 DVD master, which also was used for the current bluray release. Here are two sets of regraded bluray shots, that reflect the original look of the film as seen on 35mm prints back in the day:

 

Have you got comparison images of the altered images?

 

Here is a link with plenty of screencaps from the official Blu-ray: https://starwarsscreencaps.com/star-wars-episode-iv-a-new-hope-1977/
(there's is not a single one I for one didn't try to correct after downloading to make them look closer to the ones posted by @DrDre)

P.S.
So good to see that the original Photobucket images are back - mostly, that is: http://boards.theforce.net/threads/...ive-iv-unveiled.50045075/page-3#post-54333267

 

This is just a quick heads-up to let everybody interested in the Tantive IV deck plans (as seen in the films) know, that since beginning of July (2018) I'm spending every spare minute of my free time to finalize these and feel compelled to explain the delay: As illustrated in the drafts - e.g. https://boards.theforce.net/threads...ive-iv-unveiled.50045075/page-5#post-54450037 - the corridors from the original blueprints don't look that great so I started to embellish those with colors attempting to create some kind of photorealistic illustration.

The pentahub and the "sub-hallway" were especially difficult, as the blueprints published in 2013 - https://boards.theforce.net/threads...ive-iv-unveiled.50045075/page-3#post-54336911 - didn't focus on this particular set in detail, so I had to make an accurate recreation based on reference images and finally managed this summer vacation to get it done with accurate floor panel sizes (turned out to be more accurate than I had expected, on a width of 34 feet I'm just missing 1-2 inches). Re-examined the deck plan drafts and found a couple of exciting new in-universe solutions.

Still have to make a plan view recreation of the Tantive III's conference room from ROTS (which IMHO should also be there on Leia's Tantive IV) - which would be on the port side just between the midship and the power section (with the antenna dish on top), as that will be the only space large enough to accomodate that rather big film set aboard the ship.





Finally, the deck plan views need to be complemented with annotated screencaps to illustrate where each action takes place.

While the main (deck) hallways fit inside a Tantive IV of 155 meters overall length, the Rogue One suggestions could still indicate a larger size (160 m?), so I'm currently embellishing and detailing the hammerhead main deck to see how wide it has to be to accomodate what appeared on screen. Of course, stairways have to match the lower decks and have the correct angle and amount of steps, so I also had to examine such particular details based on real stairways to make these deck plans as perfect and accurate as possible.

Stay tuned...

 

What a project that provides agony and ecstasy at the same time - each time I make progress I make additional discoveries that need to be addressed. Examined all the Blockade Runner variations and suggestions of Clone Wars and Rebels (which need to be covered and considered, too, where space aboard is left, IMHO) but stumbled across some ANH photo images from the stormtrooper breach that were quite an eye-opener:





These are the best images to my knowledge that truly provide some insight into the mysterious room ahead of the Tantive IV's main hallway, especially the one on the top where we see several objects protruding from an angled wall on the left (I contacted some specialists to help me locate these objects as these are most likely leftovers from previously used film sets).

Earlier in this thread I speculated that it might be some anteroom (now damaged after the blast), but the arrangement of these illuminated slots looked somewhat familiar. In the above image the illuminated slot between the stormtroopers is suceeded by another (non-iluminated) slot on the bottom and the proportions (especially on the right side) make it brutally clear that it's a film set wall element that's exclusively affiliated with the Imperial Forces and shows up almost everywhere on the first Death Star (see image below on the left) -



- and in the crew pits of the Executor (just ahead of Admiral Piett in the angled corner)



(obviously the wall boxes of the Tantive IV hallways are not an exclusive design with Alliance or civilian affiliation as the Empire uses its grey variation...notice these four wall boxes on the left and between the crew pit back wall panels)

Therefore the 'anteroom' is apparently an Imperial contraption and the way I see it (and will illustrate that ASAP) it's the 'ram bow' of an Imperial landing bridge (with the ram bow laser hull cutting and detonation mechanism having turned - think of a revolving door - to allow the stormtrooper boarding party to storm into the main (deck) hallway.

 

A very itneresting example of the respective Alliance/Imperial set decoration color schemes.

 

...and a hint that three ships are of Corellian origin. The Falcon and the Tantive IV (sub-hallway) share these circular corridor structural support rings, the Tantive IV and the Executor share these wall boxes.

 

How do you know that isn't just SW standard ship design?

 

I don't, but I don't think these elements were intended to be standard parts. Both Lucas and Joe Johnston were sports car fans and with each different brand you have design elements that are unique to a particular brand. Both the Falcon and the Tantive IV are of Corellian design and the "big Corellian ships" Solo referred to were Star Destroyers according to one ANH model maker. So there is an interesting consistency reflecting in the production design.

 

Certainly possible, though I'm still not entirely sold. Some examples of non-Corellian shipwork would be good way to bolster the theory.

 

Then here is one, the Headquarters Frigate briefing room. And no, the door structure on the top right is NOT the same structure and shape like the one on the Tantive IV.

 

And another heads-up. I'm currently working every free minute on the illustration of the hammerhead's main deck plan. At first I didn't like the layout suggestions by the Rogue One film set, but strangely I've come to embrace these. The cockpit section of the Tantive IV bridge will - of course - look as it did in RO, but the other sections, namely the radar and navigation room and the communications room (partially separated from one another by non-reflective transparisteel support walls, that are somewhat necessary to rationalize such a wide and large bridge window) will reflect the actual bridge of the VFX model:



(sorry about the redundant highlighting circles, the other image without these stays hidden at Photobucket).

The part that irritated me for quite some time now, is the obvious access hatch with hinges with Ms. Deborah Borkman on the upper right part of the hatch. Now, there's some considerable space between the bridge and the corridor we saw in RO which frankly has caused me headaches. The hatch (IMHO) neither suggests a door to the quarters for the communications room crew but rather access to a larger circuit room or the like.

Although my analysis of the lost scenes of 2001 stole Tantive IV project time between April and July, in hindsight it turned out to provide what I consider an essential clue:



This is the room just ahead to Discovery One's cockpit with Dave Bowman standing in front of the hatch to the HAL 9000 brain room. Considering all the 2001 allusions in the Corellian spaceship designs (e.g. the shape of the door to Discovery's cockpit which is the same as the one to the Falcon's cockpit etc.) I have no doubts, that this hatch we see on the Tantive IV bridge is the access to its "main computer" room.

As such the Playboy pin-up poster we see in the cockpit isn't necessarily just a random detail. Now, I freely admit that I'm somewhat disappointed that the 'personality' of A.I. ship computers (e.g. the Falcon's in ESB) had never been thoroughly examined. Considering that the HAL 9000 and Zardoz's tabernacle where male, yet the computers both in Dark Star and Logan's Run were female, I wouldn't be too surprised if the Tantive IV's ship computer was intended to have a female personality. And if that were the case, then the Playboy poster could rather have a somewhat ambiguous nature.

 

With that picture, and with the brief appearance of what looks like a variant of the Corellian Corvette taking off in the opening of SOLO:ASWS, I think one ought to entertain that Han *could have been referring to Executor class ships when he said 'big Corellian ships' in SW77. This would not contradict Han referring to Executor class ships with 'a lot of command ships' in ROTJ. The bridge superstructure and domes are identical in shape if not scale. SOLO:ASWS story gives as many clues as necessary to speculate that Executor class ships were built there also. Unless I am missing a critical detail.

Edit: Meh. Nevermind. Clearly referring to Imperial ships capable of giving chase. The Executor at the end of ESB does not count as "chasing" the MF.

Anyway, I do like the idea of a well-versed Han who legitimately knows Imperial procedure who is Also a Han that does not mind holding his cards and seeing where bluster can get him. But it is an irreducible point that Han did not have a good, proper, imitative response when he said 'we're all good now slight weapons malfunction'.

 

The size gap between the ISD and the Executor is large. Legends introduces ships intermediate in size between the Executor and the ISD. Newcanon has recently recanonized some, like the Mandator. In addition, a late-model Mandator (the Mandator IV) is seen in The Last Jedi.

As such, some of Han's "big Corellian ships" could have been these kind of intermediate-size ships.

 

I would not know how to quantify it, but it seems to me that the MF's ability to "outrun" any ship is a function not only of the pursuing ship's speed, but also the strength of the pursuing ship's tractor beam. And so there may be a kind of linear function where "small" Imperial capital ships like a Star Destroyer may very well be the fastest available of capital ships (this term is being stretched, but they support air cover), but their tractor beam may not be of the substance necessary to snag the MF. Not the way the DSI tractor beam snagged it. So, hypothetically, you could have a linear function or a constant where the larger the ship gets, and the slower it gets, the more powerful its tractor beam, and so the ability to capture kinda sorta maybe does not improve or decay all that much. And then specialist classes with a specific role like an Interdictor (sp?) deviate from the trend.

If I think back to the ending of ESB, Vader was *primarily trying to tractor beam Luke's heart more than he wanted to the Executor to tractor beam the MF. This is a function of Vader's plans which he hoped to keep private within the overall plans for Skywalker from the (his) Emperor. So Vader's strategy could have included a cost benefit of Not allowing harm to come to Luke (his son) if there was an extended chase. He could have planted a seed and that was what he had to work with, and that was a better outcome than to actually capture Luke and then have to turn him over to the Emperor.

So: Maybe that Executor class could have tractor beamed the MF into a squashed tin can as easily as a Star Destroyer could have attempted a high speed highway chase.

 

Interesting that I didn't compell anybody to comment. Either no one read my comment or you guys are just being too polite to offer me the opportunity to correct myself. No, unfortunately I didn't have the opportunity to watch Solo in time and have to wait til the end of September. I just learned from a friend that this particular 'pet issue' of mine is a theme in Solo. So if somebody could speed up time or teleport me to a theater where it is still showing...

 

I just wanted to thank you @Lt. Hija for this thread as this sort of behind the scene stuff always fascinates me and no doubt it took a lot of time and work. It would be interesting to have more threads like this, such as one covering the first Death Star though that certainly would be a large undertaking.

 

Interesting thought. Never considered the "gender" of the Tantive IV before. It might be worth considering though: "Tantivy" is a type of horse gallop, and the numeral IV suggests the fourth horseman of Revelation, Death. Romance languages make Death female, but the traditional iconography of Death is male in the English-speaking world.

 

As usual I'm interested in the original context of Solo's statement in ANH when the Executor was just a design dormant in Colin Cantwell's prototype Star Destroyer design.
Already the early drafts identify the Imperial ship at the beginning as a "Star Destroyer", yet Han merely talked about "Imperial cruisers". According to one model maker quoted in Cinefantastique February 1978 these ships were intended to be "Corellian cruisers".

HAN I've outrun Imperial starships, not
the local bulk-cruisers, mind you.
I'm talking about the big Corellian
ships now. She's fast enough for
you, old man. What's the cargo?

LUKE Why don't you outrun them? I thought
you said this thing was fast.

Considering that Solo was rather surprised to see Imperial and not the "local bulk-cruisers" (perhaps Gozanti Class, illustrated below?),


I think probability remains high that "Imperial Cruisers" and "big Corellian ships" were intended to be one and the same.

Thank you very much, and it still does take a lot of time and work (but I'm somewhat compelled to have the ultimate Tantive IV in-depth study once its done). As a matter of fact it's the Death Stars that got in the way and postponed Tantive IV progress.

Admittedly focused on accurate size determination, I posted it over at the other SW message board (but don't like the loss of image resolution there, still have to look for an image hosting provider who allows hot-linking) but alternately just send me a PM...

 

..usual boilerplate that I have no time for legitimate sw research..

Once you see it, I believe you are going to be pleased with the attention paid. There are things I wish were done differently, but this is one area where there is a nearly 1:1 continuity and backwards compatibility. "Hear me, baby, hold together." "She's the fastest ship in the fleet." Versus "I just got this bucket of bolts together." There's a clear division of reference depending on whether Han is speaking to or about the ship. Of course, "She'll make half past light speed" could be suggested as an exception, but that also serves as an address to the ship. The map between L3-37 and leet is also conserved in that the accolade heaped by Lando on L3-37 is consistent with elite, best, formidable prowess.
This is one particular offering of Disney's ghost in the machine that I agree with. Disney had to explain the Death Star I's weakness in a way that detracts from the sacrifice in SW77 (my opinion). Disney's efforts to explain how and why the OT Falcon has a secret sauce that defeats evil is I think even handed, inclusive, fair and reasonable, and does not steal or detract from someone else's effort. One can point to Grace Murray Hopper, the inventor of COBOL, as a real world ghost in the machine of this kind. She died in 1992 but ATMs dispensing cash on Labor Day, 2018 use COBOL.

I for one would appreciate if there were official sources that acknowledged this connection. For one thing, you could connect Famine to the "mercy mission" she was ostensibly on, etc. I stopped short of a long bit on Enfys Nest and what her rainbow property could connect to with the Tantive IV, but I could not locate any authoritative source for the "tantivy" + 4 = _a definite thing_.


LUKE Why don't you outrun them? I thought
you said this thing was fast.

It is occurring to me now that at no point did Han ever actually demonstrate that he could outrun an Imperial ship in a flat out sub- lightspeed race, in the way that "outrunning" to earth ears means a very specific constraint. His "outrunning" was only ever demonstrated to be via hyperdrive. (He did hide in the ESB asteroid field - maybe that is open to interpretation that he "outran" TIEs in that he *outmaneuvered TIEs.) This should mean, I think, that the navicomputer assisted in this capacity to "outrun". Faster plotting of coordinates, faster mean time to jump. So it may be that references to the fastness of the Falcon primarily have to do with the fastness of its navicomputer, and secondarily with its raw horsepower. How this stitches with Han telling Lando she's the fastest ship in the fleet ought to have some suitable footnote, if it has only been demonstrated that the Falcon is not conventionally outrunning SDs.

 

I never mind good news. Yes, this particular line in ANH complemented by Ford's acting had an air of superstition that - IMHO - was quite out of character, considering Solo's earlier comments about the Force. It almost looks as if Lucas acknowledged the issue and then threw in the information provided by Threepio in ESB to give it a rationalization. But if the Falcon had a personality, I'd say the same probably applies to the poor Tantive IV.

But apparently there is still a distinction between the actual ship's computer and the navicomputer, which is probably just an 'ordinary' computer that serves the main A.I. computer.