CT The damage doesn't look as bad

When the droids jetison in the escape pod early in the first Star Wars film, Threepio says: 'That's funny, the damage doesn't look as bad from out here'. The only thing they can see at that point is the underside of the Star Destroyer that has swallowed up the rebel cruiser. It's an odd thing to say. Is there any explanation for that line?

 

I assumed that 3P0 was showing his ignorance of spacecraft design; he doesn't know a star destroyer from a blockade runner. R2's response is probably something appropriately mocking.

 

Oh, I'm sure 3PO is not that stupid and can recognize the Tantive IV. Before it was tractor-beamed into the SD I myself didn't notice any visible damage. Also, maybe a droid's vision is much better than a human's, making it possible to inspect the ship even at that distance.

 

I've always took that line as a more figuratively note rather then a literal one. For me it always sounded like: "inside of the ship hell broke loose, from the outside though it looks like just two ships gliding through space in peace".

 

From the film, most of the damage was to the top of the blockade runner and that would not be visible from were C3PO is.

Plus it is possible that how the ISD and the Blockade Runner were connected might not have been finished when that scene was filmed.
I recall that the troopers were supposed to come in through the roof instead of a door. And earlier scripts had the troopers plus Vader cross space to get to the rebel chip.
Hence why Vader had a mask, it was a breathing mask.

Bye for now.
The Guarding Dark

 

There wasn't that much damage to the inside of the ship, from what we were shown, for that matter. One door was blasted open...
The line feels like a relic from an earlier concept where the blockade runnder would still be in view and not overwhelmed and enveloped by the Star Destroyer. From what I recall in the actual scene the blockade runner is not visible at all, or it would be a speck in the docking bay of the imperial vessel. Perhaps the original idea was for the rebel ship to be bigger than the one from which it was boarded.

 

I'm sure the droids have telescopic vision. I think the Tantive IV is still in the bay and they can still see it.

 

This.

 

Yep. That is exactly how I understand it.

 

Agreed. It's a figurative comment not to be taken literally.

 

I always took it as a line that was written long before that special effect shot was even thought of and left in anyway. Either that or to establish that droids have enhanced vision or something along that line.

 

It would only make sense that the droids would have enhanced vision. They had cameras anyway. Why wouldn't those include a zoom function?

Since when does 3PO speak figuratively, not literally? I think he also takes everything said in all the movies literally. Sense of humor, irony or sarcasm don't seem to be part of his programming.

 

Well his Quote "We're seemed to be made to suffer. It's our lot in life" is a very figuative line too.

Besides: he's seen lots of damage inside with dead humans and technical damage. He also is heard saying "They shot down the main reactor" hints down that he knows there is damage inside the ship.

So it can be seen as liertal or figuartive line.

 

I see it more as 3PO being naturally pessimistic, easily frightened and often exaggerates. Like at the beginning of ANH "we're doomed", "the princess will never get out of this alive", in the Sand Crawler again "we're certainly doomed this time. They are going to melt us for sure", hiding on the DS "we'll be found for sure", in the asteroid field "the chances of surviving are about XXXX million to one", on Endor when Han and the others approach the shield generator "they'll be captured for sure", and throughout the OT "oh dear oh dear" or "oh my" etc.
I wouldn't call that "figurative". PO is just programmed to be a "coward" or pessimist.

 

Why would a protocol droid need zoom lenses? They'd be no use in the duties and functions a protocol droid is designed for, and they'd add to the unit's cost, also making it more complex and difficult to maintain. KISS.

 

Of course its totally fine to interpret is the way you want it

 

They often are taken on missions that require functions other than translating.

Cost? Even the cheapest compact digital cameras nowadays have zoom lenses. So yeah, putting a $5 component into a $100000 (or whatever) machine sure would have exceeded that budget.

 

For whatever it’s worth, one of the old “essential guides” (which I’m sure is no longer canon) attributes that line to the Star Destroyer using ion cannons, so thus the hull is relatively unaffected even though the systems are totally fried. Personally I’ve always attributed it to the fact that from that far away you can’t see enough detail to tell much difference between a ship that’s totally fine and a ship that was just on the losing end of a laser battle. In the deleted scene where Luke shows Biggs the ships through the binoculars he doesn’t believe him that they were just fighting each other

 

Is it just me or does anyone else hear 3PO respond with a quiet “oh” at the end of this scene after R2 beeps his reply? I don’t think it’s on the subtitles but I swear Ive always heard it.

 

The scene in the script is as follows:

https://imsdb.com/scripts/Star-Wars-A-New-Hope.html

which doesn’t give us much additional info.

But, I think the “reassuring response” part allows us to exclude the possibility that 3PO didn’t know which ship is which. Even if 3PO hadn’t known, R2 surely would have known, and would’ve responded mockingly rather than reassuringly.

 

Hey, I hear it too.

 

That's just C3PO being philosophical. Large events don't appear so large looking from a distant perspective.

Eternal star wars.

 

I'm surprised he made such a comment at all really.

Threepio is a pessimist at heart yet his comment here is woefully optimistic. It sounds along the lines of, "Oh, the damage isn't all that bad. All they have to do is kick off all those rotten stormtroopers & Imperial officers and they could probably escape from the hulking Star Destroyer".

To me, it would make more sense if he commented on the possible status of either the crew, Leia, or their own master instead. Such as, "Oh my, I certainly hope Master Antilles is okay".

 

Is it possible 3PO's memory wipe caused him to forget what a Blockade Runner looks like?