Line #89 Fridge/ANewHope


1	Fridge examples for ''Film/ANewHope''.
2	----
3	!!FridgeBrilliance:
4	* C-3PO tells Uncle Owen his "first job was programming binary load lifters, very similar to your vaporators." However, it is later confirmed that 3PO had no idea what planet they were on, so how would he know what language ''their'' vaporators used, or whether their programming was at all similar? C-3PO ''lied'' to Owen, probably out of desperation to get away from the Jawas, and just hoped he'd turn out to be able to do the job. (Yes, C-3PO was actually created on Tatooine, but he seems to have no memory of that, and didn't know what planet it was, so that fact isn't relevant.)
5	** He could have seen the vaporators behind Owen, recognized them, and known they were similar to something he'd worked with before. Which means Threepio basically pulled off a SherlockScan.
6	* Obi-Wan's comment that some blaster marks were caused by Stormtroopers as opposed to Sand People because of their precision comes off as [[ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy more and more hilarious]] as the Original Trilogy goes on, but if you think about it for a bit, you realize that the last time he ever saw Clone Troopers in battle was when they were badass as all hell.
7	** Actually it's an inversion of the ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy. The Stormtroopers were supposed to let Luke and the others escape the Death Star so they would lead the Imperials back to the secret rebel base. They're missing on purpose!
8	** Exactly. For some reason everybody forgets this and the fact that the stormtroopers were very efficient in mowing down the rebel crew at the beginning!
9	** Obviously, this doesn't cover everything later on, but whenever they miss Luke, the same idea applies, since Vader specifically orders him taken alive.
10	** And it's not like the main characters were any better than the stormtroopers themselves in the whole theatrical film (seriously, watch how many shots the heroes fire versus how many actually take down stormtroopers).
11	** We also saw in ''Rogue One'' that the force can be used to protect its user as Chirrut did during his {{Survival Mantra}}.
12	* Obi-Wan seems to behave like he doesn't know R2-D2 when he meets him again on Tatooine, despite having known him throughout the Prequel Era. However, the ExactWords he tells Luke is that he doesn't remember ''owning'' a droid, which he didn't: R2-D2 was Padme's and later Anakin's droid, and as a Jedi, he never actually owned anything, so he was technically telling the truth.
13	** It's entirely possible he was just [[TheGadfly screwing around with R2]] in an inside joke kind of way, similar to how R2 must've recognized Yoda in ''Empire.''
14	* Han Solo said he could do the Kessel Run in less than 12 parsecs. A parsec is a unit of distance, not of time, so this seems like a classic case of writers not doing their homework. However... relativistic effects include space compression..., as you approach the speed of light, the total mileage of the trip actually decreases.
15	** Alternatively, the word "Parsec" could have a different meaning in the Star Wars Canon.
16	** In truth, the whole "parsec" thing was Han talking out his ass, as was noted in the original script. Kenobi is even visibly irritated by the obvious bluster. He just didn't want to call Han out on his fib because he knew his options on getting off planet without attracting Imperial attention were slim.
17	** Or it could mean that he found a shorter (and therefore faster) route than anyone else.
18	*** That doesn't translate into speed though, which is what they were talking about.
19	** This is actually addressed in the ExpandedUniverse. The Kessel Run is a route to a facility in the Kessel Maw which is full of black holes and other such travel hazards. The closer to the facility you drop out of hyperspace, the more dangerous it is because all the black holes and every other kind of space hazard imaginable screws with your navigation and you ability to plot a course. Han waited until he was about 12 parsecs away from the facility (taking his life into his hands, but it's Han) to drop out of hyperspace, setting a new record.
20	*** Which would actually make for retroactive Foreshadowing of ''Film/TheForceAwakens'', when Han drops the ''Falcon'' out of hyperspace ''within a planet's atmosphere'', shattering his previous record into itty bitty pieces.
21	** ''Film/{{Solo}}'' establishes that the "safe route" for the Kessel Run is 20 parsecs. The ''Millennium Falcon'' was carrying unrefined coaxium and had to get it to Savareen before it exploded -- and had the additional problem that a Star Destroyer was blocking the safe route, so Han took a 12-parsec shortcut through the Maelstrom.
22	** The idea that the "12 parsecs" line was Han BS'ing something to impress Obi-Wan and Luke doesn't just make sense to explain an obvious science gaffe; it also makes sense that Han ''would'' make something up based on who he was talking to -- an old hermit and a naïve FarmBoy. He probably figured that they'd believe any kind of crap he fed them, not knowing that the old hermit was once a Jedi Master with ''lots'' of spacefaring experience.
23	** It's also been theorized it's kind of a test. If Han mixes up time and distance, and they don't call him out on it, he knows he's dealing with two guys who don't know much about space travel and he can bilk them. If they do, he knows they know what's up, and he can talk up some of his actually impressive points, perhaps to score more money.
24	* The last survivor of Gold Wing's attack is Gold Five (the one who knew what he was doing). His last transmission begins with, "Gold Five to Red Leader..." yet Red Leader replies with, "I copy, Gold Leader." This could be a script error, ''or'' it could mean that, since the original Gold Leader (Dutch) had been killed, that position now fell to the next senior (surviving) member of the squad.
25	** Indeed, calling him that could've been Red Leader's way of informing Gold Five of his field promotion.
26	* [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness The duel between Obi-Wan and Vader seems extremely slow and awkward compared with subsequent duels featured in the rest of the franchise,]] but neither Obi-Wan nor Vader is in their prime anymore. Obi-Wan is an old man who hasn't been in battle for decades, and Vader is an asthmatic quadriplegic in what is essentially a walking iron-lung.
27	** Also, while Vader did hunt down and destroy the remaining Jedi, he probably hasn't fought another Jedi in at least a decade, probably longer. He's out of practice, too, and clearly brushes up a bit before he faces Luke on Cloud City.
28	** Despite all that, Vader is still clearly toying with Obi-Wan. "Your powers are weak, old man!" Vader is drawing out the fight in order to torture Obi-Wan so he can hurt him as badly as Obi-Wan hurt him on Mustafar.
29	*** Kenobi has a similar objective: he doesn’t care whether he wins or loses, he just wants to make sure the duel lasts long enough to cover his friends’ escape.
30	** Back in ''Revenge of the Sith'', Anakin was driven by his emotions and passions. His hate and rage made him unstoppable but also prone to making rash judgments. Vader is cool and less emotional than his younger self. as Obi-Wan says in ''Revenge of the Sith'' is "more machine now than man". More methodical and cautious.
31	** During their duel, Obi-Wan refers to Darth Vader as "Darth", as if it's his first name instead of a title, since they originally didn't plan on making Vader and Anakin Skywalker the same person. But by this time, [[ThatManIsDead Obi-Wan has grown to believe that Anakin is truly gone]], being replaced by Darth Vader.
32	** Taking that even further... Obi-Wan calls him Darth, as if it's his first name, which it was at the time; it wasn't until the Prequels that we learn that Darth is a Sith title, or rank. Which now makes it look like Obi-Wan refuses to call Anakin by his Sith name, and just calls him by his title. Similar to if someone just called Obi-Wan "Jedi".
33	*** Also, bear in mind that Obi-Wan was very reluctant to fight Anakin/Vader, [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight still trying to appeal to his inner goodness during their Mustafar duel]]. [[TakeAThirdOption Referring to Vader as "Darth" satisfies Obi-Wan's intentions of neither using the names Anakin or Vader]].
34	*** Alternatively, consider his first line that accompanied "Darth": "Only a master of evil, Darth". So Ben's pointing out how far Anakin has fallen, and also throwing the "Darth" title back in his face. Overlaps with TearJerker ''and'' FridgeHorror when you realize that the first time that Anakin was referred to as "Darth" was shortly before the execution of [[MoralEventHorizon Order 66]].
35	*** Another alternative is that Obi Wan has now faced three of Palpatine's Darth apprentices: Maul, Tyrannus, and Vader. This could be Obi Wan mocking Vader that he is just another interchangable apprentice, forgettable and meaningless.
36	** Additional FridgeBrilliance once ''Film/RogueOne'' came out. There was ''barely'' any time passing between the Rogues' HeroicSacrifice and the beginning of ANH. Vader had no time to go back to his healing chambers and rest up/recharge, so he wasn't anywhere close to full strength. In ''The Empire Strikes Back'', he's rectified that issue with a regeneration chamber on his personal flagship. Also, Obi-Wan wasn't fighting to defeat his former padawan. He knew it was his time to meet the Force. All he was doing was buying the twins time to get out of there.
37	* Luke is told that his father was a navigator on a spice freighter. It turns out this is actually true FromACertainPointOfView. In ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'', it is revealed that one of the ships that Anakin flew during the Clone Wars was an old spice freighter called the ''Twilight''.
38	* It may seem strange that the cantina is so busy so early in the morning, but if you think about it, Mos Eisley is a spaceport, making the cantina the Star Wars equivalent of an airport bar with patrons from lots of different timezones. It's always five o' clock somewhere!
39	** Luke went out searching for Artoo in the morning, met Obi-Wan, went to his house, found the dead Jawas, and discovered his aunt and uncle were killed by Stormtroopers. That had to take a couple of hours. They probably arrived to Mos Eisley in the afternoon.
40	** Quite a few of the cantina's alien patrons have much larger eyes than humans, as do the members of the band. It's possible that the current crop of drinkers are mostly nocturnal, or originate from worlds where their suns' light is less intense. They're out boozing in the middle of the afternoon because they're staying up past their usual dawn bedtimes to party!
41	** Tossing some real science in here, different planets actually have different day-lengths due to distances from the sun. Tatooine having two suns could mean that it has extra long days, such as around 30-40 hours encompassing a single 'day'. Luke could have spent hours doing everything so far, and turned up at the bar at their equivalent of 9pm, the usual sort of time you'd find a bar full of hard-drinking louts
42	* On the Death Star, Luke initially expected Han to be enticed into [[KnightInShiningArmour rescuing a beautiful princess in peril]], except it doesn't turn out this way. In fact, Han [[KnightInSourArmour only does so grudgingly]], not remotely impressed by Leia's good looks, and he's openly hostile towards her. This may strike a bit odd as he goes against the western cowboy type, but after watching ''Solo'', his behavior makes much more sense: Han likely remembered how badly it ended for him the last time he risked his life to save a beautiful girl.
43	* The scene where Luke swings himself and Leia across the chasm in the Death Star escape was yet another homage/crib by Lucas from a classic movie, but no one ever seems to mention it in the rundown of all the tributes (Dambusters, Hidden Fortress) contained in Star Wars. It's taken directly from 1958's "The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad"-- wherein Sinbad is rescuing a princess from the fortress of an evil wizard (sound familiar?) and at one point is forced to do that exact move.
44	* So, the last two remaining Jedi have decided to go into hiding, taking Vader's children and secreting them away from him. One goes off to live with a trusted ally of the Jedi council. The other? They decide to put him on his father's home planet, with his father's half-brother and his wife, using his father's birth name.
45	** I'm not sure I understand.
46	** I think that should be at the FridgeLogic.
47	*** It's explained in the expanded universe that after everything that had happened on Tatooine, Vader would never go back there or have anything to do with it. Plus, he and Palpatine are the only ones in the Empire who know his origins and real name, and they're not looking.
48	*** This is backed up by the EU novel 'Tatooine Ghost', in which it's revealed many residents of Tatooine only knew Anakin Skywalker as the kid who won the pod-race, the former slave who bargained for his freedom and won... but never knew he was Darth Vader. After he left the planet, nobody knew for sure what became of him, but none of them would ever expect him to be the terrifying monster that was Darth Vader. As such nobody would care much that Luke's name was 'Skywalker', maybe he's just a cousin, or a nephew, or Anakin's mother had another kid before she died. Who knows for sure?
49	*** It may also have to do with the Rule of Two and the Sith penchant for ChronicBackstabbingDisorder. Luke's obvious bait. If Vader or Palpatine make a play for Luke, the situation is going to end with at least one less Sith for Yoda and Obi-Wan to deal with. And even if the surviving Sith manages to corrupt Luke? Well, they have their ace in the hole over on Alderaan who has everything but the Force training. The real money was on Leia.
50	* Another reason Vader doesn't go to Tatooine even though Obi-Wan is doing a very poor job of hiding is because, the last time they fought, Obi-Wan KICKED HIS ASS. Anakin/Vader was young and powerful and Obi-Wan still left him with one working arm and burned nearly to death when they fought. Confronting him after having 3 of his limbs replaced and his body dependent on a mobile life support system is not a good idea. The best strategy is for Vader to wait years as he grows more powerful in the Dark Side of the Force while Obi-Wan, assumed to be hardly using his Jedi skills in hiding, grows older and weaker. Vader doesn't realize that Obi-Wan is also learning how to keep his identity when he dies instead of becoming one with the Force like other Jedi.
51	* The scene in the cantina where Obi-Wan ''cuts off a guy's arm'' for harassing them comes off as pretty harsh at first, from a guy who's supposed to be a protector of the peace. Then it occurred to me that as long as you can retrieve the arm (i.e. it doesn't fall down a shaft in Cloud City), it's probably pretty trivial to reattach severed limbs in the Star Wars galaxy. We can do that today, and we don't have medical droids and a galaxy-spanning civilization. So what Obi-Wan did was, long term, probably no worse than what breaking a guy's nose is to us.
52	** The only problem being that apparently they can't. For example, Count Dooku cut off Anakin's arm and they gave him a prosthetic, rather than reattach his original arm which was laying on the floor of the hangar. Possibly being cut off by a super-hot laser sword damages tissue in such a way that it cannot be healed. But more likely this is just a case of TechnologyMarchesOn and Lucas wanted to preserve the idea of permanent injury being possible even though real-world technology implies that they should be able to do better than they do. Certainly it is an open question why there were no better medical treatments available for Vader's many injuries. While a portable iron lung that you could wear might have seemed spiffy back in the 1970s, nowadays we would be talking more about lung transplants if a donor were available (and I doubt that a Sith Lord would hesitate to have somebody carved up to get themselves some spare parts).
53	*** The point about Vader's suit is explained in the expanded universe. Palpatine specifically used old technology to rebuild Vader so that he would constantly be aware that he belongs to Palpatine now.
54	*** Obi-Wan didn't cut off Ponda Baba's (walrus guy's) arm just for harassing them-- he was trying to defuse the situation when Ponda Baba drew a blaster. Cutting Ponda Baba's weapon arm off was a ''restrained'' use of force.
55	*** Indeed. Ponda Baba and Dr. Evazan were clearly interested in lethal force. The fact that Obi-Wan only lopped off one arm (instead of killing both of them) shows quite a bit of restraint. For anyone else, once someone pulls a firearm on you, you're completely justified in killing them on the spot.
56	* Why did the Death Star's designers leave such an obvious weak point in the form of the thermal exhaust port? It's an integral part of the design, and not something that can easily be overlooked. Then I realized-- they did it ''deliberately''. The marksmanship needed to make that shot was virtually impossible, even for a computer... but not for a Jedi. As far as the Empire knows, there are only a handful of remaining Jedi, who probably don't have the piloting skill or experience necessary to make the run. So even if they were to somehow obtain the intelligence about the Death Star's weak point, there wouldn't be much they could do to exploit it. However, both Vader and the Emperor are very skilled in the Force, and Vader is an excellent fighter pilot. Most likely, they had that port added the way it was in case the Death Star's commander got too big for his britches and decided to strike out on his own. With a weapon that could destroy a planet, that scenario is both more likely and more dangerous. However, with that weakness, Darth Vader could easily go after the Death Star and make the fatal shot. The Galactic Empire is even more clever than they seem!
57	** [[https://web.archive.org/web/20170227224053/https://www.tickld.com/x/on-an-open-letter-from-a-death-star-architect There's also this.]] In hindsight, a station that big with that huge a gun needs some place to vent out the heat besides its business end.
58	** The fact that the exhaust port was ray-shielded (preventing lasers from penetrating) shows that the Empire was at least somewhat aware of the possibility. The port wasn't particle-shielded (preventing objects, instead of energy, from going through) because that would have had the exact same effect as welding a chunk of plate steel over the port (the hot gas can't escape, the station overheats, bad things likely happen.)
59	** The now-''Legends'' canon ''Death Star'' novel explained that the Death Star was built with conscript and prisoner labor who worked with a metaphorical gun to their heads. In other words, the kind of people who had ''every'' motive in the galaxy to sneak in as many sabotages as they could get away with. TruthInTelevision with World War 2 labor camps that produced a very high number of dud weaponry.
60	** ''Film/RogueOne'' gave an official explanation: the chief designer, who had been forced to take the job, put the weak spot on purpose so it could be destroyed by the opposition.
61	** It's also worth noting that, as noted above, it's pretty much impossible for anyone who isn't a Jedi or Sith. Possibly they just figured that it's never going to be exploited.
62	** Website/SFDebris notes in his review that there were originally four Trench Runs, one by Gold Leader, one by Red Leader, two by Luke, one with the computer and one without. Luke's with the computer obviously failed. It was edited down to a total of three because it just got excessive, but also would have shown for a fact that the "glaring weakness" was, in fact, ''impossible'' to exploit without the Force.
63	* Why is Leia so rude to Tarkin when she's a prisoner on board the Death Star? It seems so petty and pointless. Then you realize that she's deliberately trying to provoke him. And why? Because she wants him to kill her. Consider: they've been questioning her under torture about the location of the rebel base. As strong-willed as she is, she knows that no one can hold out forever. She wants him to kill her so that she can't give up her allies.
64	* The Empire no doubt expected that the Rebels would throw a bunch of frigates and dreadnoughts to destroy the Death Star... and those would be dispatched with its planet-killing laser. However, the Rebels send a wing of fighters and light bombers... far too small and fast for the Death Star's main gun (and most of the laser batteries) to hit.
65	** EU material suggests that the first Death Star's superlaser couldn't recharge quickly enough to be effective against capital ships (that was an improvement made for Death Star II). Rather, the turbolasers littering its surface were intended for use against attacking capital ships, presuming that anything smaller than a cruiser was a complete non-threat.
66	* Vader notes "The Force is strong with this one..." while zeroing in on Luke.... right at the time that Obi-Wan starts talking to him from beyond. While Vader had no idea who exactly was flying this X-Wing, he obviously was picking up on the Force emanation. He didn't know what exactly was happening in that cockpit, but the surge was registering with him.
67	* Tarkin refusing to escape with his personal shuttle becomes a lot less arrogant and a lot more logical once you think about the possible results of the battle. If he stays and the Death Star succeeds, he will have earned credit for destroying the Rebel stronghold and once again proven the Emperor's trust in him. If he flees and the Death Star succeeds, he will appear cowardly and lose the favor of the Emperor and the respect of the other commanders. If he flees and the Death Star is destroyed, he will again appear cowardly, but this time also responsible for losing the Death Star, something the Emperor would not take lightly. Finally, if he stays and the Death Star is destroyed, he will not only escape a gruesome punishment by the Emperor (most likely he died before he even knew what was happening), but also save face by having stayed on his post, earning a place in the Empire's possible history book. The only true option at any time for him was to stay.
68	* Remember how early on in the film C-3PO calls Luke "Sir Luke". What does Luke eventually become? A Jedi KNIGHT.
69	** Similarly, when Luke finds Leia, he's wearing Stormtrooper armor. So, he is a KnightInShiningArmor.
70	* The current state of the Jedi and their eventual return is brilliantly explored in the main theme of the Force. It starts off slow and quiet, feeling almost tired and forlorn, with only a few instruments. Later, other instruments come in, symbolizing increasing use of the good side of the Force. Eventually, it ends on a high and hopeful note, perfectly mirroring not just the first film, but all of them, even the prequels. It almost says, "no matter how bad things get, there is always hope."
71	* Seems rather odd that a Rebel movement fighting [[PuttingOnTheReich something like The Empire]] would emulate a Nazi rally from ''Triumph of the Will.'' However, a sizable chunk of the rebellion would have been made up from [[DefectorFromDecadence Imperial defectors]], so of course they'd borrow from ceremonies they used to follow.
72	* Han's dismissive statements about the Force and the Jedi seem strange because he's old enough to remember the establishment of the Empire. Until you realize that he's lived through decades of [[WrittenByTheWinners Imperial propaganda demonizing the Jedi Order]].
73	** Not only that, but there were thousands of Jedi at the height of the Jedi Order. That number is relatively small compared to the [[http://scifi.stackexchange.com/a/76427 quadrillions of sentient beings that live in the known galaxy]]. This means that most people probably only heard rumors and myths about the Jedi and never actually met one. This would have made it easier for the Empire to demonize the Jedi and more likely for someone who was alive when the Jedi were plentiful, like Admiral Motti, to be dismissive of their powers.
74	** It also makes sense that, considering how Anakin in 'Phantom Menace' referred to the lightsaber as a 'laser sword', the myths may not even be 100% accurate. Rumours and hearsay are problematic for a reason, that is they usually mutate with every retelling and misconstrue facts and details. At the time of 'A New Hope', nobody's seen a Jedi for at least 20 years. Thus, what a Jedi actually IS would be almost impossible to figure out. Is it an alien species? A type of robot? A ship classification? A weapon of some sort? It's impossible to know for sure, if all you have to go on is rumours. As said above, even Admiral Motti arrogantly referred to Darth Vader's Jedi training as a 'religion', as if it was nothing more than blind faith as opposed to actual power, despite working on the same side as Vader himself. If someone THAT close to the truth doesn't know what a Jedi actually is, how can ANYONE?
75	** Plus, a lot of those who knew and worked with Jedi are, by this point, most likely either dead or part of the Rebellion.
76	** It's also worth remembering that, yes, he remembers the establishment of the Empire--from when he was about five years old. While he may have heard of Jedi prior to that, it wouldn't have registered much anyway. Especially since there were no major battles on Corellia for Jedi to be involved in. Unless he met Nejaa Halcyon as an infant or something, there would've been no reason for him to know anything about Jedi before he grew up and started learning Imperial propaganda.
77	** The no longer canon ''Knights of the Old Republic'' games, some elements of which have been re-canonized, state that most people don't even realize the Sith and the Jedi are wildly different. They just think they're two sects of some weird cult that for some reason has a lot of political power. Han's from the shipyards on Corellia, not one of the elites who would have had access to the Jedi.
78	* For the first hour of the film, Leia has a faux-British accent that is dropped halfway through the movie and never heard from again; notably, she drops it right in the middle of the Alderaan scene. It's entirely possible that she was using her dignified "senatorial voice" initially to seem condescending and show her bravery, but when Tarkin threatened to destroy Alderaan, she reacted in her natural accent.
79	** My interpretation was that Leia was just mocking Tarkin's own British accent, possibly to hide how afraid she was, but when Alderaan was threatened, she dropped it, realising that this is NOT the kind of man you want to upset.
80	* The first time Luke mentions Obi-Wan to his uncle, Owen tells him point blank that "[Obi-Wan] died around the same time as your father". Of course, we learn less than fifteen minutes later that he was clearly lying about Obi-Wan being dead, and we learn at the end of [[Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack the sequel]] that ''everyone'' was lying about Luke's father being dead. But in hindsight, his statement ends up being entirely true FromACertainPointOfView: Obi-Wan ''did'' [[ThatManIsDead symbolically "die"]] around the same time that Anakin did, because he cast aside his old identity and became the reclusive hermit "Ben Kenobi" right after Anakin did the same and became Darth Vader.
81	** Also worth noting: the sentence right before was "I don't think he exists anymore." -- even with metaphorical truths, Owen isn't quite certain Obi-Wan is ''entirely'' dead, but he'd likely prefer to think he is, because if Obi-Wan came back, it quite likely could endanger Luke.
82	** We learn from ''Series/ObiWanKenobi'' that Owen is willing to let Obi-Wan be part of Luke's life, but he doesn't want the boy trained to follow in his father's footsteps. He and Beru wanted children but couldn't, so Luke is precious to him and he wants his nephew to stay safe on the farm, not fly off to fight monsters in space.
83	* Princess Leia only seems like a DamselInDistress because we see most of the movie from Luke Skywalker's perspective. When you see the movie through ''her'' eyes, you remember that she never actually had any reason to believe that anyone was coming to her rescue until Luke barged into her cell in Stormtrooper armor. Indeed, nobody ''would'' have come to her rescue if the ''Millennium Falcon'' hadn't been pulled in by the Death Star's tractor beam right after arriving at Alderaan-- a ContrivedCoincidence that gave Luke and co. the perfect opportunity to rescue her. Up until that point, she fully expected to give her life for the Rebellion, and had no reason to believe that she wouldn't have to. From ''her'' perspective, she's a loyal Rebel soldier fully prepared [[HeroicSacrifice to sacrifice herself for the cause]]. There's a reason Leia's a feminist icon.
84	* The X-Wings locking their S-Foils into Attack Position seems to be mostly pointless, aside from RuleOfCool, but given George Lucas's love of homaging older works, and his later habit of basing starfighter designs on historical fighter aircraft in the Prequel Trilogy, it seems that the S-Foils could be a reference to the specially designed flaps or air brakes used by dive bombers in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. They would be extended to maximize drag (and prevent the airplane from ripping itself apart in a high-speed dive) just before the bomber rolled into its attack dive.
85	** The "S" in "S-foil" stands for "stabilization", in point of fact.
86	*** It is difficult to dissipate heat into space. Presumably, the s-foil's attack position is a design characteristic that doubles the surface area of the wings and allows better waste heat dissipation when they're making heavy use of the weapons. Also, moving the thrusters farther apart would help with thrust vectoring and increase maneuverability.
87	* Uncle Owen apparently told Luke that [[BlatantLies his father was a navigator on a spice freighter]] so that he wouldn't have to acknowledge that he was a veteran Jedi. Sure, we know that he didn't want to tell Luke the truth about Anakin, but why ''that'' lie specifically? Owen knew Luke well enough to know that he was [[{{Determinator}} determined to go to the Academy]] at any cost, and that he spent his free time shooting womp rats from his T-16 Skyhopper because he wanted to be a fighter pilot. Owen probably knew that he would never be able to dissuade Luke from going to the Academy, but he presumably would have tried to steer him towards a safer occupation than piloting fighters in combat missions. Serving a support role (like navigator) on a large, well-armored civilian vessel (like a merchant freighter) would be a good compromise-- and Luke would presumably feel a lot better about opting for a job like that if he thought that he was following in his father's footsteps.
88	** Spice dealing is also a ''very'' disreputable occupation, like running illicit drugs would be in the real world. Telling Luke "your dad was a drug smuggler" would not only be a good way to try and dissuade the kid not to ask too many questions about his dad, but it's a lot ''less'' shameful than "your dad is a child-killing, mass-murdering, half-robot enforcer for the batshit crazy maniac ruling the galaxy".
89	** On a more pedestrian level, it's also a pretty good way to counter any temptation for your own kid to start doing or selling spice. "Your dad thought spice-running 'isn't that bad', too, and look what happened to ''him!''" Not a bad strategy if you're bringing your nephew up on a planet infested with drug dealers and gangsters.
90	** The last season of ''The Clone Wars'' established that spice ''can'' be used as medicine, meaning it might be more of "Your father tried to the right thing, but got killed by drug dealers stealing his morphine shipment".
91	* Leia's "resistance to the mind probe is considerable". Presumably the mind probe is a Force probe. Her resistance is due to her latent abilities with the Force thanks to her parentage.
92	** Not only that, but her parents probably ensured that she learned some kind of PsychicBlockDefense, to keep Rebellion secrets away from [[{{Telepathy}} telepaths]] like Vader and the Emperor, who she would have been around as part of her job as a Senator.
93	** All it takes to resist a mind probe is a very strong will. Leia has that in spades. Even as a ten-year-old under the threat of torture that clearly terrified her, she refused to tell Third Sister what she knew. As a ten-year-old, she had a far stronger will than anyone you’re ever going to meet. For her nineteen-year-old self, resisting the mind probe is literally child’s play. If it took a Force-sensitive to resist the mind probe, Vader would quickly have realized who he was dealing with. That being said, it's not at all implausible that her latent Force powers were of help.
94	* The scene where Vader choked Motti with the Force was a set-up: Tarkin and Vader knew that many of the chiefs of staff (especially Motti) were arrogant and likely to do something stupid even when they were supposed to obey Tarkin and Vader in everything once the Senate was disbanded, so Vader took the first opening he had to try and get a reaction and they quickly showed that Vader could kill them any time without even touching them and Tarkin was the only one who could stop him.
95	** In addition, the total nonchalance that the other Imperials display while Motti is being choked suggests that they've seen this before-- especially Admiral Yularen, who (as shown in ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'') fought alongside the Jedi and would therefore know about the Force. This makes Motti look even more stupid for thinking that he could get away with challenging Vader to his face.
96	*** And in relation to the above, how fittingly ironic is it that Admiral Motti (along with everyone else in that meeting room besides Vader) dies in the explosion of the Death Star, caused by a Rebel pilot following that "ancient religion" Motti ridiculed, with said pilot being the secret '''son''' of the guy he mouthed off to, for extra points?
97	** It also, in retrospect, makes a lot of sense that Vader - a man whose most immediately identifiable trait is [[VaderBreath tied to his ruined lungs]] - defaults to ''asphyxiation'' as a method of execution. A man who can't breathe punishes his minions by making sure they can't breathe either.
98	* Vader seems unusually furious in the opening sequence, snapping orders at his men where usually he's calm and composed. This makes far more sense in light of ''Film/RogueOne'': Vader's absolutely livid because he came within an inch of stopping the Death Star plans escaping at Scarif, literally ''saw'' the Tantive IV fly out of his reach, and the crew still have the nerve to try and bullshit him about it being a consular ship on a diplomatic mission.
99	** Not only that, but he knows that if he can't get the plans back and the Death Star gets destroyed, [[AngerBornOfWorry the Emperor is going to be REALLY pissed at him.]] Having the most powerful being in the entire galaxy angry at you is not good for your health. Legends continuity confirms this. (Especially when said being can use an attack that can fry your cybernetics. [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi Should that ever actually happen, well...]])
100	** This also explains why Vader strangles Captain Antilles by hand, rather than use his more common Force Choke method or threaten him with a lit lightsaber to the throat, the Dark Lord is so angry and frustrated, he wants to ''feel'' the rebel officer's dying breaths between his mechanical fingers.
101	* The aftermath scene where Luke's shaking his head in disbelief and Leia comforts him takes a lot of flack, even from the late Ms. Fisher herself, because Leia's arguably been through a lot worse. But think about this-- Leia has had a lifetime's worth of training as a ruler, diplomat, and military officer [[TheStoic (notice how she tells Dodonna that there's no time to grieve once they hit Yavin)]], and while the loss of Alderaan was her ''worst'' loss, it's hardly her first. Essentially, she's already a Jedi Consular in every way but the Force training. Luke, meanwhile, is this country bumpkin with ''no'' experience in any of the above, who lost his home, his family, and his mentor trying to rescue her. She's trying to distract herself from her own sorrows.
102	** It could also be that AMillionIsAStatistic is in play, not to mention that she never actually physically saw anyone die, and as said above, will deal with her own grief, which is currently too big to comprehend, later on when she has a chance to relax.
103	* Leia's [[MemeticMutation famous]] plea for help from Obi-Wan (''"Help me, Obi-Wan Kenobi! You're my only hope!"'') takes on a new meaning when you remember the title of the movie. Leia specifically says that Obi-Wan is her '''only hope''' because she believes that he's the last surviving Jedi, and the only one who can complete her final mission for her. She doesn't count on Luke, who proves himself as a Jedi and ultimately finishes the mission that Obi-Wan started. In other words: when she thought Obi-Wan was her '''only hope''', Luke proved himself as '''a new hope'''.
104	* When Obi-Wan invites Luke to come with him on his mission to take the plans to Alderaan, Luke [[RefusalOfTheCall refuses]], still feeling obligated to support his family on Tatooine. Obi-Wan is clearly unhappy with this, but seemingly unwilling to press the issue despite the high stakes. Two things to consider, however: Anakin Skywalker was shanghaied by Qui-Gon Jin and Obi-Wan Kenobi into joining the Jedi Order at an age where he was too young to understand what he was getting into, and that ultimately led to the creation of Darth Vader, [[MyGreatestFailure something which Obi-Wan is understandably reluctant to repeat]]. Secondly, although the audience doesn't know it yet, [[ThereIsAnother Obi-Wan knows that recruiting Leia might still be possible,]] and since she's the one asking him to help to begin with, she's probably going to be likely to agree, provided Obi-Wan can rescue her.
105	* When the commanding officers on the Death Star meet, there's one chair next to Tarkin that remains empty. Come ''Film/RogueOne'', and it becomes clear that said chair belongs to Orson Krennic.
106	* Obi-Wan's HeroicSacrifice becomes so much more meaningful in light of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith.'' What was Anakin's FatalFlaw? Not being able to confront death, and being so afraid that he would rather pull a FaceHeelTurn than accept the death of someone he loves. Obi-Wan's last action was a lesson to ''both'' of his students-- trying to avert this with Luke, and also by completely destroying Anakin's thanatophobia[[note]] fear of death[[/note]] by not only sacrificing himself, but doing so willingly and [[GoOutWithASmile contentedly]], showing that there are far worse things than dying.
107	* The little moment Luke and Han share after the smuggler's "I'm in it for the money" exchange with Princess Leia: Han (sincerely or not) expresses his disinterest in Leia, sparking a "good" from the former farm boy. Han, realizing he's hit a sensitive spot, has some fun with the kid by speculating aloud whether or not Han and Leia would make a good couple, to which Luke swiftly responds with a negative. Knowing what we know about Luke and Leia's ties, this moment could now be perceived less as a potential paramour trying to discourage a rival and more like a big brother (older by minutes) keeping a shady outlaw away from his vulnerable kid sister!
108	* Han Solo's stance as a FlatEarthAtheist in regards to the Force seems very strange and even unlikely when you consider that ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' shows that his best friend and copilot Chewbacca not only knew Jedi Council Grand Master Yoda, but personally witnessed him decapitate two Clone Troopers and helped him escape Order 66. Chewie has first-hand knowledge of the powers Jedi possess(ed), and in their many years together, he undoubtedly shared the story of that catastrophic incident on Kashyyyk with his friend and captain. Solo either dismissed Chewbacca's account of Yoda's feats as "simple tricks and nonsense" (and perhaps ultimately the Wookiee did as well), or it may simply be that Han and Chewie, like a lot of good, longtime friends, simply don't discuss topics like religion or politics, as they are potentially very sensitive subjects. Whenever Han would make a dismissive comment about the Force and the Jedi, Chewie probably just rolled his eyes and let it go.
109	** Han never said he didn't believe in the Force. He said he doesn't believe in a force that controls everything. He is saying he doesn't believe in predetermination. And actually, he may be right--the Force doesn't seem to "control people's destinies," just gives them a nudge.
110	** Of course he doesn't. He's a gambler! He's all about beating the odds and cheating his way to victory, if he just accepted what he was given he wouldn't have gotten anywhere. Han not believing in predetermination is practically the core of his entire character: never tell him the odds, he makes his own luck.
111	* In ''Film/AttackOfTheClones'', Anakin slaughters an entire village of Tusken Raiders for killing his mother, and the Expanded Universe says that Anakin would become a demonic figure to the Tusken Raiders. When Obi-wan saves Luke from the Tusken Raiders by scaring them off, it's likely that the Tusken Raiders believed that Obi-wan was the demonic figure inspired by Anakin.
112	** Canon is that the sound Obi-Wan made was the hunting call of a krayt dragon. The Tuskens hear that and see someone running away, and running is the smart thing for them to do as well.
113	* Admiral Motti mocks Darth Vader's belief in the Force, specifically deriding his lack of success in uncovering the location of the Rebels' secret base with that "ancient religion". But as it turns out, Vader didn't need any "sorcerous ways" to uncover the Rebel stronghold: he used good old fashioned trickery and deception, tricking Luke and co. into leading the Imperials right to it.
114	* Why are droids not allowed in the Mos Eisley Cantina? Well, since most would consider it impractical to create [[EatingMachine a droid with a functioning digestive system]], and many droids don't seem to have a mouth, it can be assumed that droids are unable to eat or drink. If someone is unable to drink, they don't really have a reason to be in a bar.
115	** Also, they likely emit waste heat, and on a desert planet, it is likely expensive to keep any structure cool.
116	** Chalmun, the Wookie owner of the cantina, hated droids specifically because they took up space that could be occupied by paying customers.
117	* As absurd as it seems, there's actually a practical reason for something as immensely powerful as the Death Star: planetary shields take a ''lot'' to take down, even with Star Destroyers (in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'', Echo Base's ''theatre'' shield is so powerful a fleet including five Star Destroyers and the much larger and more powerful ''Executor'' isn't expected to take it down quickly enough to prevent an evacuation, with planetary shields being much more powerful). That was also a likely part of how they planned to justify the Death Star to the Senate long enough for Palpatine to find an excuse to dissolve it (something that happened far earlier than expected): if the Empire needed to assault a shielded planet, the Imperial Fleet would just need to have the Death Star blast it once to take it down in seconds, rather than mobilizing dozens of Star Destroyers and fire at it for days or weeks, or hope that a torpedo sphere (a siege platform intended ''specifically'' to take out planetary shields with concentrated proton torpedo fire) could get to its generator.
118	** The planetary shields also may have played a part in Tarkin targeting Alderaan specifically: the planet was known to have a planetary shield... That can only delay the planet's destruction for ''a tenth of a second''. If a rich Core World's planetary shield can only resist a single shot for a tenth of a second and doesn't even soften the impact enough to prevent its world's destruction, what choice does anyone have but to surrender the moment the Death Star shows up?
119	* Much is made of the Death Star's ability to subdue the Empire just by existing. Tarkin did not make it up, it is a variation of the "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleet_in_being fleet in being]]" concept, in which a fleet keeps major enemy assets tied up to counter it simply by existing and never leaving harbor. Even the Death Star's eventual failure is based on this concept; if the fleet leaves harbor, it becomes vulnerable and could be destroyed along with its deterrent potential.
120	** It also echoes the theory of "certainty of punishment", according to which certainty of apprehension and conviction would keep crime down, only horribly twisted. All materials made after the first movie show that Tarkin's career started in the Outland Regions Security Force as a highly successful pirate hunter-- that is, he was a space cop applying what had previously worked, only not in the still-idealistic frame of the Republic, but in the fascistic one of the Empire.
121	* Leia's pistol on the ''Tantive IV'' is described in fluff as a DDC Defender sporting blaster. While as a Rebel agent she'd prefer owning a gun, as a Senator she'd always be accompanied by armed escorts and supposed to let them deal with any threat, taking away any self-defense justification in case the Empire randomly inspects her apartments-but not having the ''hobby'' of shooting-- thus having the blaster equivalent of a target handgun.
122	** Alderaan is also pacifistic almost to a fault. Leia, an Alderaanian, having a sporting blaster for target shooting would be unusual. . . but owning a blaster designed solely to be lethal would be highly suspicious.
123	* On the capture of the ''Tantive IV'':
124	** During the chase the ''Devastator'' is using its turbolasers, but an ''Imperial I''-class Star Destroyer mounts a vast array of ion cannons that could disable the ship with ease. This is no oversight: the Imperials need to check the ship for the Death Star's plans (in fact, the first time we see Stormtrooper officer Praji is when he reports to Vader about it), and as the ion cannons disrupt electrics they could accidentally erase them, or give the Rebels an excuse to pretend that that was what happened and deliver the plans anyway. In that situation it was better to trust the elite gunners of Darth Vader's personal Star Destroyer to be able to disable the ship without blowing it up-- as they do by slowly and carefully weakening the shields with glancing blows and then a single blow right over the reactor.
125	** The Alderaanian Consular Security troopers on the ''Tantive IV'' wear the same uniforms and use the same guns as the Rebel troopers on Yavin IV and, in Canon, on the ''Profundity''-- and yet, captain Antilles ''still'' [[BlatantLies claimed they were a diplomatic ship with no tie with the Rebellion]]. At least in Legends, it's not so ludicrous: when the Empire took over, it forcibly reduced or outright disbanded most planetary security forces, many of which happened to share the same uniform as the Alderaanian troopers and used the same ubiquitous DH-17 hand blaster (so ubiquitous that the next time we see it is in the hands of ''Imperial Navy troopers on the Death Star''), meaning that, without clear evidence of Leia's actual allegiance, the obvious explanation is not that the Alderaanian Consular Security forces are actually Rebels, but that the Rebels procured a lot of ex-planetary security forces uniforms and guns that ''just happen'' to be the same as the Alderaanians'.
126	** The ''Tantive IV'' has the same hyperdrive rating as the ''Devastator'', meaning the ISD shouldn't be able to follow it so closely even if they could track it through hyperspace, and it's one of the ubiquitous [=CR90=] corvettes (the Rebel fleet at Scarif even included multiple [=CR90s=] with the same external markings), making identification even harder. This is all explained by ''Literature/FromACertainPointOfView'' stating that the ''Tantive IV'' had suffered damage to the electric grid when the ''Profundity'' was crippled, to the point that the hyperdrive actually gave out close to its destination: the Imperial ship scanned it and identified the damage, allowing them to plot the likely destination going by their direction when jumping, and even ''outrun the Alderaanian ship'' due to the latter's malfunctioning hyperdrive and wait for it there, and when a [=CR90=] with the same markings and a malfunctioning electrical grid arrived and refused boarding for inspection, they knew they had it.
127	*** This also adds to why they didn't use ion cannons: they work by disrupting electronics through the electrical grid, and as they wanted to capture it, they could't take the risk of overloading the grid a bit too much and cause catastrophic damage.
128	* When Luke asks "How did my father die?", Obi-Wan pauses for a moment before answering that Darth Vader "betrayed and murdered" Anakin Skywalker. Once the truth is revealed in ''Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack'' and confirmed in ''Film/ReturnOfTheJedi'', this unintentionally becomes a killer bit of {{foreshadowing}}. Luke caught Obi-Wan off-guard by asking about an uncomfortable subject, and Obi-Wan needed a moment to compose just the right half-truth.
129	* The reason C3-PO doesn't recognise his old home planet of Tattooine and why he doesn't know who Obi-Wan Kenobi is, despite seeing him in the prequels, is simple. If you recall to Revenge of the Sith, Bail Organa orders Captain Antilles to have [=C-3PO's=] memory wiped.
130	* Even though Leia confronted Vader, by being sassy and even smirking at him, she was unintentionally being rude to her own father! And Vader ordering her to be taken away is like a father grounding his daughter.
131	* Even though Vader was under pressure torturing Leia to cooperate on the Death Star, he was unknowingly abusing his own daughter.
132	* When Beru tells Owen that Luke has 'too much of his father in him', Owen smiles a little, but says 'that's what [he's] afraid of'. Why would he smile over the man who became Darth Vader? Because the first time he met that man, he was Anakin Skywalker, who, in about less than a day, found his own mother tortured to death, and murdered every single one of the scumbag bastards who did it. Considering Luke's own reaction to the Sand People is to grab his gun, it's possible that Owen considered Anakin to be doing something of a service to the galaxy by slaughtering them all. Not everyone will possess the same understanding of the Light and Dark Sides that the Jedi have (just look at Han Solo in the same movie); it's possible Owen considered Anakin something of a hero for what he did that day, regardless of what happened next.
133	** There's also the fact that nobody even knows who Vader is behind the mask except for Palpatine and maybe a handful of other people. Owen only knows of the guy who came in and avenged his mother, and probably what he heard of back during the war, that he was a military maverick. That by itself would probably have given Owen both pride in his half-brother and fear or exasperation that if Luke went out and got himself involved in some 'damn fool idealistic crusade', he'd probably be as bad as his father was in keeping out of trouble.
134	* When the Jedi were exterminated, Obi-Wan was one of the few who were left, and being on the run for nearly 20 years, he only had a single spare power cell for his lightsaber, so of course his lightsaber would flicker during his duel with Darth Vader.
135	** Also, Obi-Wan likely used up at least some of that power cell during his final duel with Maul in ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels Rebels]]'', even if Obi-Wan ended the fight as fast as he could, deflecting another light saber and then cutting through it and its owner likely drained it.
136	* When Ben's ghost tells Luke to "use the Force" at the eleventh hour, it seems like an obvious reference to Luke switching off his targeting computer and aiming manually. But it ''also'' refers to Han Solo re-appearing in the nick of time. Was it just a guilty conscience that made him return, or did the cosmic energy field that binds the galaxy together compel him to come back even though he earlier stated it doesn't control his destiny?
137	** Given that the Force is never seen to compel anyone to do anything in any media (short of actual directed mind tricks), it's doubtful. That being said, the Force may have been giving him a nudge.
138	* At first, it seems like Ponda Baba and Dr. Evazan randomly decide they don't like Luke just by looking at him, and their reaction by killing him over it is a bit harsh, but breaking the scene down gives their assessment of him a little more weight: Luke enters the cantina with droids, which is frowned upon. All of the cuts of the monstrous patrons ends with a reaction shot of a nervous Luke still lingering in the doorway, implying that the shots were him staring at everyone. He sits down next to Evazan and orders a drink by ''tugging'' on the barkeep's shirt and pointing at what he wants like a child. It's not hard to see why, from the barflies' perspective, Luke is already showing himself to be a rude, tone deaf, demanding newcomer after only being in the bar for about a minute.
139
140	!!FridgeHorror:
141	* Why did Chewbacca freak out at Luke when he tried to put the binders on him? Because he had been enslaved by the Empire for almost a decade and probably had pretty bad experiences with them.
142	* Consider the ''Tantive IV'' security detail's point of view at the beginning of the movie. They are unarmored and lightly armed -- practically just security guards -- and their ship is being pulled into the bay of a massive Star Destroyer about twenty times bigger than their ship. And they know that an army of the dreaded Stormtroopers (armored and heavily armed) are coming through that door any minute to kill them all. [[MookHorrorShow They have absolutely no chance.]]
143	** ''Film/RogueOne'' makes it worse: they know Darth Vader is on that Star Destroyer because one of them was the guy who boarded the ''Tantive IV'' from the ''Profundity'' while being ''chased by Vader''. [[HeroicSacrifice They knew they were going to die messily]], [[YouShallNotPass and their goal was to keep Vader and his Stormtroopers away long enough for the plans to be passed to someone else]].
144	* When Artoo and Threepio's escape pod is jettisoned, a gunner on the Imperial Star Destroyer sees it, remarks "There goes another one.", and is about to shoot it until his superior officer tells him to hold his fire because his sensors didn't detect any "lifeforms aboard". This exchange means that there had been ''other'' pods with living beings in them that tried to escape capture but were destroyed by the gunners.
145	** Those two gunners' failure to act indirectly caused the Death Star's destruction. Guess who isn't going to be happy with either of them?
146	** It should be pointed out that along with those gunners was likely a tractor beam operator. It's unlikely that they would outright destroy the escape pods if they could pull them in instead. After all, they want to try to find the stolen plans, and for all they knew, Senator Organa could have been in one of those escape pods and then they would be in deeper trouble with Vader.
147	* The Stormtroopers didn't just shoot Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen and have done with it. They ''massacred'' them, torched their farm, and left them as smoking skeletons. Think about that. These faceless dumb henchmen we see missing their shots routinely and going down in one hit are... disturbingly resourceful killers. That savage killing wasn't undertaken by Tusken Raiders. It was undertaken by ''human beings''. WarIsHell, man.
148	** Creator/GeorgeLucas has gone on record saying that ''Star Wars'' was inspired in part by the UsefulNotes/VietnamWar, and how a small group of rebel fighters had to fight off a "[[UsefulNotes/UnitedStatesOfAmerica larger, technological empire]]". With that in mind, the Stormtroopers torching a family farm searching for a droid seems eerily similar to the use of napalm on entire villages in Vietnam.
149	* A mix of horror and brilliance. Luke's muted reaction to that massacare may have been for good reason. One, shock. Second, he likely sensed it and ''knew'' his aunt and uncle were already gone before he saw the proof. Worse, Tatooine has a lot of Sand People raids on farms like his, and it's pretty common for farmers and other common folk to be slaughtered. Just see what happened to his grandma. He may have had to clean up other farms and the remains of the inhabitants.
150	* ''Only Imperial Stormtroopers are so precise.'' Obi-wan should know-- he probably ''used to lead them.'' Alec Guinness' monotone delivery [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone now seems more like a tortured man trying hard not to relive the days he led the stormtroopers and their predecessors...]]
151	** I feel the need to point out that the Stormtroopers in A New Hope were NOT clones. Most, if not all, clones were dead by this time. Only the 501st, then renamed Vader's Fist, were the remaining clones and there was not that many from the 501st around. Sure, maybe some survived, but what are the chances that the VERY few that are still alive were ones that Obi-Wan used to know and/or lead?
152	* After Evazan and Ponda Baba are injured by Obi-Wan, the patrons of Mos Eisley resume their business within seconds. This indicates that this kind of thing (or worse) happens all the time there. They also quickly return to their business after Han blows Greedo's head off and tosses some money to the bartender for the "mess".
153	* Once Obi-Wan brandished a ''lightsaber'' in a crowded bar, the clock started ticking for him-- there's zero chance that a juicy bit of news like that wouldn't reach the ears of an Imperial informant.
154	** Which leads into Brilliance when he offers Han almost twice as much as he'd originally asked for (seventeen rather than ten thousand). The Negotiator could've easily haggled the price down, but he's in a hurry and knows it, so he just finds the first willing pilot and offers him a big bribe to get them out of there.
155	* "This is your father's lightsaber"-- a weapon that was used to slaughter 30 children, among other atrocities. It's essentially the ''Star Wars'' equivalent of the rifle used at Sandy Hook.
156	* The Death Star had a whole deck (level) for detention. There probably were a lot of innocent people inside cells who perished when the Death Star exploded.
157	** Not necessarily. Having capacity doesn't mean that capacity is in use. If I buy a brand-new trailer, it doesn't come loaded with boxes of cargo. The Death Star was only within the span of the film declared "fully operational." There's no reason to believe that they'd already started using its detention facilities in any significant way. Most likely to be aboard would have been any other high-value passengers from the Tantive IV, but that possibly only amounted to Leia.
158	** If Leia were the only prisoner, the whole "Prisoner Transfer from Cell Block B" thing would have fallen apart a lot sooner. That the initial complaint was only that proper bureaucratic procedure (and the implicit ego-stroking therein) had not been followed (rather than "wait, where did the Wookie come from??") implies that they have enough prisoners for this to be fairly routine.
159	** It's a big space station, with who knows how many Imperial soldiers aboard. They may very well have some of those guys locked up for various offenses big and small. In fact, such folks are likely to be the majority of prisoners aboard any Imperial vessel unless they're actively taking prisoners from combat or police actions, which the Death Star hadn't had much chance to partake in, outside of Scarif and the ''Tantine IV''.
160	* During the opening scene, just before Vader shows up, you can hear what's going on behind that door. Listen closely (this is even in the theatrical version): lightsaber sounds. Now, recall his latter scene in Film/RogueOne, which happened mere minutes before…
161	* At the start of the movie, Luke is planning to join the Academy. While this may not be specifically an Imperial Academy, you can bet that a lot of graduates do end up in the Imperial star fleet. The Empire would have a vested interest in keeping an eye on the recruits so they could persuade the best ones to join the Empire. And of course, they would want to know if there were any talented recruits who were likely to join the Rebels. Considering Luke's piloting skill, he would come to the Empire's attention. And the minute Vader or the Emperor heard about a young talented pilot by the name of Skywalker from Tatooine, they would take notice. Luke might have always hated the Empire, but it wasn't personal until his aunt and uncle's death. And he didn't hate Vader personally until Obi-Wan's death. With no training in the Force, no guidance from Obi-Wan, and no reason to personally hate the Empire or Vader... Luke would have quite possibly accepted his father's offer to overthrow the Emperor and rule the galaxy together.
162	* The destruction of Alderaan is this when you think about it. A core world with billions of people on it was destroyed in seconds because Tarkin wanted to hurt Leia and officially “reveal” the Death Star to the Galaxy. Not only is this an extinction level event practically unspeakable, how many systems relied on Alderaan for supplies or other necessities? How would people (like Leia) who weren’t on Alderaan react to finding out they can never go home and/or see their families again? People love to talk about the destruction of the Death Star, but Alderaan was an inhabited planet.
163	** Also the fact that so many people died that Obi-Wan felt the genocide from ''the Outer Rim'' (basically the outermost solar system mapped in the Star Wars universe). If a trained force user was in the Core worlds/another close solar system, how would they have felt it? Could they have died? Or worse, become similar to [[VideoGame/KnightsoftheOldRepublicIITheSithLords Darth Nihilus?]]
164	* Stop and think about the destruction of the Death Star for a moment. A fully functional battle station the size of a moon, and with a crew of roughly two million, completely destroyed. Thousands of people killed, and not all of them believed in Palpatine's ideals, they just didn't have any other choice in the matter. How many families have been torn about because of Luke's actions? How many children have been lead to believe that the Rebellion is the true evil in the galaxy because their mothers and fathers were taken away from them?
165	** One of the ExpandedUniverse novels brings this up, and Luke has to deal with the realization that he was responsible for the deaths of ''one million'' people on board.
166	** This actually comes up in ''Series/TheMandalorian'' courtesy of an Imperial shuttle pilot who's still pissed about the destruction of the Death Star -- who then sabotages his own argument by mocking Cara Dune about the earlier destruction of her homeworld Alderaan, and gets a plasma bullet between the eyes.
167	** Taking this idea further -- now that we've watched ''[[WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars The Clone Wars]]'', we actually know one of the people who was on the Death Star when it blew up -- Admiral Yularen (he only makes a brief, non-speaking cameo in the theatrical film, but still). From what we see in the installment, he doesn't seem like a bad person at all. If anything, he's the one who has to put up with shenanigans every day under Anakin's command. It just makes it so much more horrifying because we know this guy...and he hardly seems like the sort of person who deserved to die that way. Doubles as a TearJerker.
168	*** As far as anyone's concerned the destruction of the Death Star was instantaneous. Yularen would likely have never known what hit him before being evaporated in the blink of an eye. Most of those onboard would have died as quickly, too. It's still a monumental disaster of a death toll but it could have been worse for everyone involved so...Fridge Relief?
169	*** YMMV, though, since Yularen is willingly serving the Empire despite having witnessed the genocide of the Jedi and God knows how many other atrocities. He's no conscripted stormtrooper or stooge, either; he's high-ranking enough to know what's going on in the Empire and to possibly have power to make things better if he wanted to. And if not, he could've defected to the Rebellion and done a lot of good there with his knowledge of the Imperial military and tactical expertise--as quite a few high-ranking Imperials, like Crix Madine, actually did.
170	** Yularen served under Anakin in the Clone Wars; he may have known who Vader really was and willingly followed his old friend, believing he was betrayed and nearly murdered by the Jedi. Also, Yularen is career military, and not a clone; he chose service. He's also an officer, not a conscript like Finn or a poor kid looking for a pay-check like Han, and career military officers tend to be deeply right wing and appreciative of the authoritarian structures they live with (not always, granted). ''Andor'' gives a realistic portrayal of the grinding, petty, bureaucratized cruelty of the Empire, where normal, everyday people no longer really think about the harm they're inflicting. It also shows compartmentalization, where the Empire's atrocities are covered up and news has difficulty spreading. Couple that with Palpatine's gradual, decades-long destruction of the Republics democratic structure, and it would be easy for Yularen, portrayed in ''Clone Wars'' as a decent man who puts up with Anakin's shenanigans because they get results to be an eager servant of a fascist emperor, justifying it as necessary for peace and order in a dangerously unstable galaxy. That said, there were a lot of good, kind, orderly Nazis. Historians have a word for them: Nazis. Good intentions don't spare you from the necessity of stopping something like the Empire.
171	* This is something that should've come up first, but the destruction of Alderaan has more frightening implications when you recall that Luke and the others were on their way there as it happened. Had they arrived much sooner, they would've been blown up as well. And not just the heroes, but the Death Star plans inside Artoo as well. It makes you realize how close to an instant victory it was for the Empire.
172	** Of course, the Empire wouldn't have ''known'' that the plans were on Alderaan when they destroyed it, so they would likely have carried on killing and torturing in their quest to find the plans....
173	* Regarding the Special Edition change that added a shot from Greedo's gun immediately before Han fired: 1. The shots occurred too close together for Han to be retaliating, even if Han's reaction time is half that of a human. 2. Greedo missed from two feet away, which had to be intentional, and which means he did not intend to kill Han. In the theatrical version, Han shot someone he and the viewers had good reason to believe would kill Han. In the Special Edition, Han shot a man who had no intention of killing him. That's dark, Mr. Lucas.
174	** This was likely the reason for the "Maclunkey" edit in the Disney+ version. The line isn't subtitled but supposedly means something like "This is the end of you"-- i.e. Greedo now announces his killing intent.
175	* ''Rogue One'' confirms that the Death Star can scale down how powerful its main weapon is, which makes Tarkin's use of it on Alderaan even more of a wanton display of overkill than it already is. But if you think about it, even if the Death Star was used with more restraint, it would be a weapon of terror. It could still easily scour the biosphere of planets in a single shot and render them uninhabitable, which is something the EU indicates star destroyers can do, but in this case it would be able to do so in a single shot. And suppose it was used specifically to crack a planetary shield? That would likely still cause considerable collateral damage depending on what exactly happens when said shields are broken, and likely cause heavy damage to the infrastructure needed to maintain that shield. Even if the Death Star's commander was hell-bent on using only as much force as necessary, its mere existence would allow it to threaten a defiant and well-defended planet with having the core of their planetary defense, and thus their ability to keep themselves safe from any other threats, stripped from them in an instant. Even if it didn't have someone like Tarkin at the helm, pretty much every way you could use the Death Star would be pure ParanoiaFuel for any planet pushing for more freedom to govern themselves.
176	* "The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I've just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently." One can only wonder how many KangarooCourt treason trials followed that announcement for any senators who didn't have the sense to get the hell out of dodge like Mon Mothma did.
177	* When the star destroyer's gunner is told not to shoot the droids' escape pod, his line is "There goes another one." ''Another'' one. Meaning some poor bastard had tried to escape just before and was blasted into stardust.
178	** Honestly it would be counter-intuitive to blast any of the pods into stardust. It's made pretty clear that the entire point of boarding the Tantive IV is so they can confirm they've contained the leaked plans, and failing that recover the specific data that was stolen so they can determine whether the rebels actually found intel they can exploit. If they fail to get any confirmation that the Death Star plans haven't been passed on to anyone else, AND they fail to recover the plans themselves, then boarding the Tantive IV would've been a waste of the Empire's time. Fridge Horror still applies since that means that anyone who did try to escape probably didn't make it far, likely either snatched up before they could land or simply captured once they hit Tatooine, ending up in front of a firing squad either way.
179	* Han and Luke have to blast their way past a handful of TIE Fighters to escape the Death Star. However it later becomes clear that Tarkin and Vader let the Millennium Falcon escape with minimum resistance so they could find the rebel base. That means that they sent a couple of poor schmucks out after the Falcon knowing they'd probably get shot down, and even if they didn't, they'd at least have destroyed all trace of the plans and destroyed any hope of the rebels destroying the Death Star - a win-win for them, but it makes you wonder exactly how often they sacrifice pilots for a tactical gain.
180	** TruthInTelevision. Sacrificing a few troops here and there to achieve a greater objective is not an uncommon military strategy.
181	** According to ''Legends,'' the answer is pretty much all the time, unless you're Thrawn.
182	* Fridge Heartwarming: There is a brief argument on Yavin when Chewie wants to help the Rebels while Han wants to cut and run. Presumably, after they leave, the argument continues and Chewie brings Han around to his point of view. He may seem like a big hairy brute who’s only there to provide muscle, but in the end his biggest contributions to the cause are his moral sensibilities and persuasive words.
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Context Fridge / ANewHope