CT "The Empire Strikes Back" Timeline

IIRC, I believe that's the only way the B-2 Spirit flies missions; missions are flown out of their home base-somewhere in the southern Midwest, like Missouri or somewhere, am I right?-and they fly from that base, all the way to their target on the other side of the world and return. They have space for resting, eating and/or sleeping in the cockpit section, not unlike a semi truck. Not ideal living conditions, I'm sure. But then again these are highly trained (and decidedly not squeamish) fighter pilots.

 

Actually bomber pilots, but that's just picking nits. They are indeed highly trained combat aviators.

 

The time line as i recall is empire strikes back is 3 years after a new hope, return of the jedi was 6 months or a year after empire , originally i believe it was a year but now its 6 months .

 

6 Tatooine months was the figure given in the ROTJ novel.

In Legends it was clarified that the Tatooine month is longer than the "regular" month, making it 9 regular months.

 

But this begs several questions, Lando and Chewie were going to Tatooine at the end of ESB. What where they doing for over half a year?
Same with Luke, if it was taking this long, why did he not go back to Yoda and finish his training? Or at least get the answer to if Vader is really his father?
The implication the films give is a few weeks, 1-2 months at most.

Bye for now.
Old Stoneface

 

Keep in mind that three years of real time lapse between the filming of TESB and the filming of ROTJ. Luke in particular looks a lot more than "a few weeks older". So in that respect, a half-year gap doesn't look so bad.

 

Each actor has aged considerably in the three years between TESB and ROTJ so having it stay closer to 1 year in timeline makes more sense. Although I think most were saying why would they wait so long to get Han?
As Samuel Vimes said "But this begs several questions, Lando and Chewie were going to Tatooine at the end of ESB. What where they doing for over half a year?"
There was a lot of planning taking place to infiltrate Jabbas palace. I would think Lando would need months to get inside and earn a place among the guards (he had the uniform from Solo movie). Chewy meanwhile shouldve been Snoova and been a guard too but most likely he waited for Leia.
I wouldn't mind that story told in a Disney+ show? Or Shadows of the Empire anyone?

 

I always thought it may be something like this. Tattooine is entire planet, and we might believe that places are close together, but maybe they are not? So Jabba palace might be similar distance across dune sea from Mos Eisley as Paris is from New York. And Jabba Palace seem remote, so maybe it is hard to find unless you can make underworld contact who tell you exactly where it is. It might also have taken the time for Lando to gain trust of Jabba men undercover so that he could actually get into palace. They allow the droids in, only just, but they try to stop Boushh (Leia) and Luke from getting in. Luke had to choke guards and mind trick Bib to get in, and Leia (probably Chewie) throw the guard down the steps to get in.

 

There isn't anything that indicate that Jabba's palace is hidden or hard to find. Han was going back to pay Jabba. Kind of hard if he does not know where to go. And Han worked for Jabba as did Chewie, I would imagine both of them knows where it is.
As for remote, Jabba was in Mos Eisley to look for Han, if it was a long journey, would Jabba waste that time just to talk to Han?
And if it would take Lando many months to get inside the palace, why did Luke just sit on his behind?
He had a pretty urgent question to get an answer to, is Vader really his father?
Would he just sit around for almost a year and not go to Yoda to get answers?
Plus he promised to come back and finish his training. If Lando is working at getting inside the palace and it will take many months, why would Luke not got to Yoda and complete his training while he waits?
Why would Obi-Wan not go to Luke and talk to him? Letting Luke alone with what Vader said for a long period of time could be risky.

Bye for now.
Old Stoneface

 

I am sorry I do not know the answer to all your questions. I am just giving a "maybe" explanation from my own head because there is no real explanation at all for the long delay between the event of Empire Strike Back and Return of the Jedi. The palace used to be Bomarr Monastery for monk who want seclusion so maybe it is not easy to find and Jabba do all his business in the towns like Mos Eisley?

 

Like someone said, the book said 6 months. They were formulating a plan, Luke was building his light saber, etc. 3PO mentions that Chewie and Lando never returned. So Chewie got captured and Lando was still undercover? I assume the plan was for Lando and Chewie to try stealthily, then Luke. Luke had also just been injured; he may have had to recuperate. Rushing into Jabba's palace traumatized with a hand he just got was probably not the best idea.

 

I believe in the newcanon comics, Luke returns to Cloud City with Lando and tries to retrieve his lightsaber, but no luck.

 

But there is no "Long delay" in the film. RotJ says nothing about how long it has been since ESB.
So the audience can think it was a few weeks, 1-2 months, 6-8 months, a year, several years between these films.
ESB ends with Lando and Chewie going back to Tatooine and Luke saying he would join them there. Then pretty shortly into RotJ, we are with the droids in Tatooine. Some time has passed but we are not told how much. But the implication is not a lot. There is no mention of a long delay, things going wrong, them having to wait. Plus, as I've said, it would not make much sense for Luke to sit on his thumbs for six months and not go to Yoda to get an answer to if Vader really is his father. And complete his training.

So since the film gives no passage of time, and how the ending of ESB connects with the start of RotJ and how it makes not much sense for Luke to sit and do nothing. Or the others for that matter, Han is in very real danger. So I think not that much time passed between the films. 1-2 months at most.

Bye for now.
Blackboard Monitor

 

Luke is able to Force Choke the Gamorreans. And he actually refers to himself as a Jedi Knight in his message to Jabba. Perhaps a hint that he really has been training - but on his own.

 

Okay I am sorry. I just thought it was generally accept in most canon timeline that The Empire Strikes Back take place 3ABY (3 year after battle of yavin) and Return of the Jedi 4ABY (4 year after the battle of yavin) so 1 year after The Empire Strikes Back?

 

Yoda tells him later he needs no more training "he knows all he needs", but when you try to work it all out it only opens up more and more questions.. it took Anakin over decade of training to become a Jedi Knight, did Yoda do like Master Chiun in Remo Williams and use a few short cuts so Luke learnt in a quarter of the time? Did Luke repeat the exercises he did on Dagobah, running around doing somersaults, standing on one finger, lifting rocks and Artoo with the Force or were there other things he learnt on Dagobah?

 

I never really thought of it but like most planets in our own solar system the length of day varies between planets. We dont know how long a day on bespin is compared to dagobah or hoth for that matter. A day on Bespin could equal 2 on Hoth or dagobah.

 

ROTJ doesn't make a whole lot of sense. There's no reason for Luke to have waited so long to go back to Yoda.

Han and Lando get a long great even though they never discuss what previously happened between them. TESB does a better job of mending their relationship from something we didn't actually see until SOLO was made.

Lando references the "battle of Tenaab" and Han seems to know what he's talking about, but Lando has only been fighting with the Rebellion since TESB so how does Han know what he's talking about? Or was Lando fighting in some battle before the OT even began?

I like a lot about ROTJ, but as a whole it's kind of a mess.

 

The novelization tells us that it was a battle against spacefaring bandits.

"I'm a man of many faces and many costumes. Someone must have told them about my little maneuver at the Battle of Taanab." Taanab was an agrarian planet raided seasonally by bandits from Norulac. Calrissian - before his stint as governor of Cloud City - had wiped out the bandits against all odds, using legendary flying and unheard of strategies. And he'd done it on a bet.

 

I'm seeing a running theme of author's having to fix this franchise.

 

The Star wars comic shows a lot was going on between movies. Luke had too much going on to go back to dagobah, he had responsibilities.

 

Or just that Lucas likes Noodle Incidents, and other authors like to explain what the Noodle Incident actually was.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/NoodleIncident

"The Kessel Run" springs to mind - Lucas mentioned it but didn't explain it - so EU authors (and later, the writers of the Solo movie) do.

 

Any concept can be used in a good way or a bad way. Just because it has a name doesn't mean it can't be used in error. KESSEL RUN refers to something that happened in the past, but Han is a new character and thus his past can be anything.

When Lando mentions the BATTLE OF TANAAB and Han seems to know what he's talking about, that raises a question. "Wait, Han has been in carbonite since TESB ended. How does Han know about something that Lando did while he was frozen? Or, did Lando fight in some other battle prior to the events of the OT? When did this happen? Oh, I just got sucked out of the narrative, what is happening?"

You don't want your audience thinking about the mechanics of your movie while they're watching it. They're supposed to be invested. This is probably why I never thought too highly of ROTJ, because this happens a lot in ROTJ whereas I never once lost focus in ANH or TESB. I saw these all for the first time when I was 10, btw. A 10 year old should be enthralled, not wondering about scripting techniques.

 

Yes, but TESB and ROTJ are set only a year apart.

 

The point I was making was that half-a-year or so, in the case of Luke's looks, is a bit better than "a few weeks".