The ''stolen'' Death Star plans

Has anyone else ever wondered about the whole idea of the plans to the Death Star in ANH being treated as if they were some sort of physical object?

Leia physically loads the plans into R2 and instructs R2 to deliver them to Obi-Wan. Given the level of computer and communications technology in the Star Wars universe, you'd think that the plans could have been transmitted or uploaded to the Rebel Alliance pretty quickly and easily.

Also, would the stolen plans really be "missing"? Would downloading or copying the Death Star plans erase the originals?

I know that the level of understanding of information technology was pretty crude back in the 70's and that there are also dramatic considerations at work, but it's still one of those things that bugs me just a little bit.

 

I'm sure the plans could have been "sent" to the Rebel Alliance, but I'd say the Empire might catch the signal and trace it, so sending a droid would be the easiest answer, in my opinion.

As for the plans being "missing" from the Empire's databank, I'm not really sure.

 

And not just any droid...

 

The plans aren't "missing" from the Empire. The rebels stole a copy of the cyber plans. The reason the Empire wants it back so badly is not because the rebels stole their only copy, but because the rebels HAVE a copy and could exploit it.

 

Vader actually says to Leia "Several transmissions were beamed to this ship..." so that would seem that the plans are not missing but have been copied onto the Tantive IV.

I would assume that at the opening of ANH that the rebels had just recieved the data from the Imperials and the Empire took notice and immediately began their pursuit. As a result, they probably were able to jam the Tantive IV's communication systems preventing them from sending the plans any other way except through a physical means.

 

Leia managed to obtain the plans for the original Death Star and she downloads the data into R2-D2. She sends a message with R2 telling Obi-wan that he is the only hope. I think a better question is why is Obi-wan the only hope?

 

I think he's the only hope because the Tantive IV has been captured along with it's crew on an outer rim system where help must be nowhere to be found.. R2 has the plans and hopefully will find ob1, but then the ball is in ob1's hands. If he doesn't get R2 to the rebels, all hope is lost.

 

The plans in ROTJ were actually stolen, physically i mean. They were aboard a space ship and a bothan spacecraft and a few fighters led by dash rendar intercepted it and stole the plans. This was however orchestrated by the emperor. so yeah, off the topic, but this is why "many bothans died..."

as for the plans in ANH. They did not erase the orginals. They only got a copy. the empire did not need them anymore. and the rebels didnt have time to do much of anything being pursued by the empire. so she hid the plans in r2, through usb probably! gotta love that.

 

Leia was told about the Death Star project by a wounded spy on Ralltiir. From there the Alliance organised two seperate missions to retrieve a copy of the plans to find a weakness in its defenses: The first involved Kyle Katarn stealing an incomplete version from an Imperial research facility on the planet Danuta. The other involved an intelligence team and squardron of fighters led by Bria Tharen capturing an Imperial communications centre on Toprawa where a "hardcopy" of the plans were being transfered by the Imperials. Although they managed to get the plans, the Imperials led by Darth Vader in the star destoryer Devastator managed to destory the Rebel Forces but not before the Rebels transmitted the plans to a courier vessel that accidently lost its self in the system, the Tantive IV. The Devastator persued the Tantive IV to tatooine. Once R2-D2 got back to Yavin IV, those plans with Kyle Katarn's provided a complete set of schematics and specifications.

So the reasons the plans are treated as physical is because a) It's safe for the Imperials to keep protected and b) Because Tantive IV would have been detected sending the plans or more likely, blocked form being able to send transmissions hence the reason they weren't able to send a SOS.

As someone also said the Imperials would have had multiple copies, they just didn't want to Rebels to get their hands on them.

Obi Wan is Leia's only hope because he is the only one capable to see the droids safely to Alderaan with everyone on the Tantive IV a prisoner.

 

rock on with that back story. is that referring to dark forces?

 

I think a better question is why is Obi-wan the only hope?

No, there is another.

Leia was not informed of Yoda.

Let's look at the three. Obi-wan is on Tatooine, Bail Organa is on Alderaan, and Yoda is in hiding. For obvious reasons, we can rule out Leia father. Yoda must remain in hiding. The only only one left is Obi-wan Kenobi.

 

The plans were "beamed to the ship", but they "are not in the main computer".

Obviously Leia downloaded them to the disk she put in R2, then deleted them.

There's nothing wrong with the way it's portrayed. If you stole the plans, you actually think you would have some way to transmit them out of the base? No, you would need to load them onto a physical media and get it out that way. Something the size of the "complete technical plans" for the Death Star would easily require a tape format.

And FYI, the understanding of technology in the 70's was teh same as it is now, complete with the internet. Things haven't changed, the basics are all the same.

 

Back with ANH was made, the average person did not have the general computer knowledge that they do today. So it was just easier to refer to the plans as if they were something physical instead of digital.

 

We don't see it in ANH, but there is a galactic holonet seen in pieces in TESB. The plans probably did not exist on some holonet server, but as others have said they were a physical disk of sorts.
Make a copy, send it to a ship.

Simply beaming copies to a Rebel Base would end with the Empire tracing it to the base like they traced the signal to the Tantive.

I would assume all security areas have outgoing frequencies jammed or secured via a huge array of tacking sensors geared towards tracing any signals sent out.

Think of the recent copy of ROTS that made its way onto the internet as part of a file sharing program. Someone had to make a copy from a physical storage device, then send it out into the world wide web on a program. Meanwhile, the FBI are investigating who may have done this from the inside, and where copies went from there.

 

why didnt they just put it on kazaa like they do now, or like rots on file sharing programs.

 

Anyone heard of the term "intellectual property"? It can be stolen.

 

I would assume that at the opening of ANH that the rebels had just recieved the data from the Imperials and the Empire took notice and immediately began their pursuit. As a result, they probably were able to jam the Tantive IV's communication systems preventing them from sending the plans any other way except through a physical means.

That sounds plausible.

 

Think of the recent copy of ROTS that made its way onto the internet as part of a file sharing program. Someone had to make a copy from a physical storage device, then send it out into the world wide web on a program. Meanwhile, the FBI are investigating who may have done this from the inside, and where copies went from there.

Many bothans died getting that bootlegged ROTS on the Internet.

 

EU aside, the Tantive IV was in the Tatooine system because Leia's mission was to bring Obi-Wan to Alderaan. Since her ship was capture by the Empire, Obi-Wan became her only hope of delivering the plans to Alderaan. There wasn't anyone else on the ship or planet that could have helped her. As for using R2 to deliver the plans, since the Empire traced the transmissions to the ship, they definitely would have been able to trace transimissions to Obi-Wan's hut (if he was even capable of receiving such data).

 

can't u understand there 'is no e-mails on that time, as there is no way to know that they're is too babys.???

 

thecnology is not to be trust...read asimov

 

if the robots ara conscince they will rule us-obi-wan dixit

 

I've always wondered how come Leia's ship just happened to be near Tatooine, thanks for clarifying it for me.

Transmissions can be traced, so they're far too dangerous to use. Even if their contents can't be deciphered, the source of a message can be traced.