The misconceptions you had about Star Wars, when you were a kid.

I'm new here, too, and I'm not really trying to "reply" to anybody specific, although I'm enjoing a bunch of these. Well, let's see what this one-time 5 year-old mind came up with. I hope that not all of these are repeats:

I was pretty sure that the conference room in the Death Star took up the whole of the interior. That was a scene in which Grandmaw Tarkin figured promenantly.

I remember telling my mother that Ben Kenobi was a Jawa before he took his hood off. (the hood was back on in that scene in ESB, though, when Darth Vader was praying to him)

Why was Darth Vader after Princess Leia? Naturally, he wanted to marry her, but she would never marry a robot like him.

 

I used to think that when the commanders clothes had shrunk and it was hot when they were getting force choked. im also knew got on because i saw someone else on

 

My biggest misconception was that I thought Mace Windu actually won the duel against Darth Sidious. It just wasn't obvious to me at all that Palpatine was playing with him.

 

In ROTJ when Threepio tells R2 that he's playing the wrong message I always thought R2 actually was playing the wrong message and Luke had made two different ones.

and I thought they were called Lifesavers too.

 

My name is Mike Marconi and I am a junior at Caldwell College, NJ. Star Wars is my favorite film. I picked Mikhail cuz it sounds like a Jedi name and its Russian for Mike. When I first saw any of the Star Wars films I was about 6. I only remember R2-D2 since my mom bought me an R2-D2 wind-up toy. I told my dad that I felt R2 was so helpless. I also thought Darth Vader was called Dark Vader. The time I saw Star Wars and understood and remembered it all was in 6th grade (1997 i think) around when Star Wars was being re-released in theaters in preparation for Episode I. I remember asking myself towards the end of ANH, when is Luke supposed to fight Vader?? Then I found out later that it would happen in the next film.

 

Great thread

1. I thought that the death star in ROTJ was the same one from ANH and that it was only damadged.

2. Im from Norway so I thought Darth Vaders name was Dark Raider.

3. I used to call the AT-AT and AT-ST drivers for Darth Vaders because they had a similar helmet.

There are more but I will get back to it.

 

I thought Darth Vader (then Dark Vader) was a superior officer to the Stormtroopers because his suit was a darker colour than theirs.

 

I haven't had time to read the thread, but I always had this weird theory that General Reiikan (ESB) was Admiral Ackbar (ROTJ). They had similiar voices, and I was always under the impression that Empire had captured Reiikan and mutilated him into that fish thing. I recall creating this entire theory about it and fast forwarding my ESB and ROTJ tapes to the parts with Reiikan and Ackbar and watching them back to back numerous times to make sure I was right.

And even though I was older at the time (episode I came out when I was about 13 or 14, but still a fanatic), I instantly thought the droid control ship was the Death Star being built. I also thought that the unfinished Death Star 2 was the partially blown up Death Star from ANH. Ah. . .this thread is awesome.

 

I just about fell off my chair when I read the "Jungle Light-Speed" comment. I thought I was the only one!

Also, for some strange reason, I thought that Stormtroopers never talked.

 

<i>i didn't understand about the ep IV thing either, and when i asked my parents they told me that GL must have been on drugs or something because a lot of people did drugs during the time they were made, so for a long time i thought he just numbered them wrong because he was on drugs and forgot how to count, and i thought it was very sad. </i>
That is the best story ever.


<i>I remember thinking that Oola - the dancer at Jabba's palace - fell into the hole in the floor, and then was turned into a frog. Then Jabba ate her.</i>
Me too! That scene confused me so much.

Also, Darth Vader was Dark Vader, and lightsabers were lightsavers.

 

This is a great thread. Here are my goofs:

(1) In ROTJ: When Luke is telling Leia on Endor that he must go to confront Vader, he tells her that by staying he is "endangering the group and our mission." I always heard it as: "endangering the Kumbandar mission." I thought Kumbandar was the mission's code name or something, and always wondered why Lucas didn't show us a scene where Mon Mothma or whoever says, "This mission is code named Kumbandar."

(2) In ANH: Thought, as many of you did, that Stormtroopers were robots. I always thought the scene where Luke and Han wear the stormtrooper uniforms was a mistake on Lucas' part, since they wouldn't have had time to empty out all of the wires and machinery from the inside of the costume. "How could they fit in there?" I used to ask, indignantly.

(3) Also in ANH-- I thought that all Jedis disappeared when they died. This is actually a mistake on Lucas' part-- since ROTS makes it clear that this was a new skill, learned by Qui Gon from beyond the dead. Why wasn't Vader more surprised when Obi Wan's body disappeared? In ESB, he tells the Emperor that Obi Wan can no longer help Luke. But why doesn't he say, "Master-- the weirdest thing happened. Obi Wan disappeared. He might still be able to help Luke."

Cheers!

 

I thought Ben was Luke's grandfather.

 

I haven't read all of these, so my own misconceptions may be shared by others:

In ESB, I too misheard the 'scruffy-looking nerf herder' line, as 'nerve-hurter'. However, that made sense to me because I interpreted it as 'hurter of feelings', which fit the scene.

I also remember a BIG debate in the early days of Usenet over whether Han Solo said "I'm nice men" or "I'm a nice man" in the kiss scene in ESB. I remember hearing a rumour that the dialogue for this was taken from the novel of 'Gone with the Wind', but that probably isn't true.

But probably my biggest misconception was in ANH, which was the idea that the big villain was Grand Moff Tarkin, and Vader was only his henchman doing the dirty work.

Oh wait, that *was* the case, wasn't it?

t

 

I don't think I've ever laughed as much as I did while reading this thread Keep 'em coming.

The only misconception I remember having was that I thought Chewbacca was to blame for Han's carbon freezing in ESB. For the longest time, I had a mental image of the process starting, then Chewie getting angry and banging wildly on a control panel that made the platform suddenly drop down. I don't think I liked him very much as character until I re-watched the movie when I was older.

 

No, the needle represented truth serum injections for Leia. I watched SWANH today, my old copy, and in the garbage compacter scene, Chewie is beating on the door, but there's no sound effect *grin* What I wanted to say though was it was a long time before I saw the term "Jedi" in print, and I always thought it was "Jet Eye Knights." I guess b/c of speed and light speed.

 

In ROTJ: During the scene where the lambda shuttle enters the Death Star, I always thought those imperials that have the black helmets were elite fighters trying to wear the full body armor that Vader has.

In ESB: I always wondered why Luke didn't die when he was hanging on the antenna below cloud city from lack of oxygen.

In ANH: I thought that during the duel against Vader that Obi-Wan was turning his saber on and off, but I realized it was just poor special effects making it appear that way..

 

Good 'un about "oil" I just watched ANH again yesterday and noticed the digital symbols (grin). I thought about it means "3" in binary. Also, the rebels' helmets have a funky blue graphic on them. Dunno if that graphic made it into the other films.

Watching ANH yesterday, I noticed the film was nearly all action, although I didn't notice it 30 years ago when I first saw it, just the single goal of blowing up the Death Star.

 

When I first saw ANH I thought that the Tantive IV was the main ship of the series (like the Enterprise(s) in Star Trek) and that most of the films would be the rebel officers and the stormtroopers fighting it out in the corridors. I thought the droids would just make token appearances here and there for comic relief instead of being major characters.

When Luke says "Is there any more of this recording/" I thought this was an out-take which had made it into the film, and he was asking GL if the cameras were rolling!

When Obi-Wan says "You must do what you feel is right, of course" and we cut to the Star Destroyer approaching the Death Star, I thought that Luke and Obi-Wan were on the ship, and that the shot was to show that Luke had decided to come with Obi-Wan.

For a LONG time I thought that the helmeted figure in black walking away from Leia's cell was Vader.

I seem to vaguely remember thinking Lando was Jabba for a while.

I also misheard "always in motion is the future" as "emotion" and that when Luke says "the group and our mission here" he was saying the name the mission had been given (Grubannar or something).

For some reason, after seeing the OT for the first time, I was sure that I had seen Imperial Walkers on Tatooine in one of them.

 

I didn't have too many misconceptions, considering my young age when I first saw the trilogy.

When the heroes are battling it out with Storm Troopers in the Death Star detention area, it still sounds to me like Han says "Cheese the brains!", and I misheard "Lock S-foils in attack position," as "Luck-has-falls and attack position," and I didn't know any better until I read this thread the other day.

I also thought the black helmeted "Death Star Guards" wanted to look imposing, or suck up to Darth Vader, so they wore helmets styled after him.

When Obi-Wan was cut down by Vader, I just assumed that the movies were too old to show him getting cut in half, and that he might have just disappeared to make it more kid-friendly, but after watching the Empire Strikes Back, I assumed that all Jedi dematerialized upon death, since the only two we saw die did this.

I also thought that Oola the dancer was turned into a sand frog when she fell into the pit, like others here.

When the Death Star II was destroyed, I always used to think that the large black object in the bottom right was the Emperor.

 

-I thought Obi-wan's lightsaber and Anakin's lightsaber in ANH were one and the same. After all, they were the same color, and it was never explicitly stated otherwise. Coupled with the fact I was six. I spent quite a few nights wondering how Luke managed to get the Lightsaber back in time for ESB

-I really thought Luke fought Vader in the tree in Dagobah. Shortly after that scene where the halucination gets decapitated, you see a halmet being lowered onto Vader's head on board the Executor. That really made things confusing.

-During the trench run, it appeared to me that Vader's lasers were somehow reflected, sent through a wormhole, transversed the fifth dimension, and came out behind him and destroyed his right wingman. Apparently my six year old mind missed the connection with the Millenium Falcon.

-I had no idea that Jedi lightsabers were supposed to be green. I figured in ROTJ, Luke's green saber was a backup he had build before ESB, and that its circuitry got screwed up a bit when R2 fell into the Dagobah swamp, altering the blade color. The fact that R2 spewed sludge out of one of those top hatches where the lightsaber was later stored completed the illusion.

-When Luke tripped out and attacked the emperor, I thought Palps deflected the attack with his own lightsaber. Don't ask how.

Oh, the good old days

 

I thought Obi-wan's lightsaber and Anakin's lightsaber in ANH were one and the same. After all, they were the same color, and it was never explicitly stated otherwise. Coupled with the fact I was six. I spent quite a few nights wondering how Luke managed to get the Lightsaber back in time for ESB

I used to think the same thing, and it really confused me too. Glad to see I'm not the only one.

 

For a long time I thought he was called 'Dark Vader'

I also thought Han and Leia were married and han owned every ship the rebels had.

im not sure where I picked up the last one....

 

In ANH when Obi-wan found Luke passed out and told him "the Jundland Wastes are not to be travelled lightly", I thought for the longest time he said "a gentleman's waste is not to be taken lightly." Imagine my confusion at that line.

Before I knew Moff Tarkin's name, I thought Leia called him "Governor Tuck".

 

That's what we're led to believe in ANH

 

I saw ROTJ before ESB, so it kinda ruined the whole thing. Anyways, I though Ben was Luke's uncle/ Vader's brother the first couple times I saw the trilogy.