From: adrian@cs.hw.ac.uk (Adrian Hurt)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.starwars
Subject: Re: Ignoring Canon and other Silly Mistakes
Date: 20 Aug 92 12:34:06 GMT
Organization: Dept of Computer Science, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland

In article <m-ayn!_@rpi.edu> caer@iear.arts.rpi.edu (Charlie Figura) writes:
>
>Bushwa.  Recall, if you will, (in both movie AND book) Vader tells the
>bounty hunters that he doesnt care if theyre brought back alive *or* dead,
>but that he wants *proof* that theyve been dealt with.  i.e., disintegration,
>since it scatters your atoms to the winds, obliterates any proof that you've
>been dealt with.
>
>Having just reread the whole trilogy (I was bored, ran out of other stuff
>to do... :-) I wonder how long its been since any of you have read it?
>I dont remember what the faq said, but if it did not include the *movie*
>books as canon, well, its not fit for toilet paper.

Having just checked both the movie and the book, I found that Vader said:
Book:  "I want proof.  No disintegrations."
Movie: "I want them alive.  No disintegrations."

>Point is, *lots* of the questions we've been debating here are answered
>there in black & white.

They are just answered incorrectly, that's all. :-)

>A few points (if I can remember...)
>Luke is twenty at the time of ANH. (twice the years of the 10 year old
>'droid that he's working with on the vaporater at the beginning...)
>He's twenty-three at the battle of Hoth. (i.e., 3 years between ANH and
>ESB).

And what unit was he in at Yavin?  Blue wing (book) or Red wing (movie)?

>					When we first meet the Imperial
>commanders at the death star, they discuss the rebellion.  Tagge (I
>believe) refers to it as a superbly armed group with excellent equiptment
>and even better pilots.  Of course, Tarkin & the rest have their egos
>to consider, so...

Vader, for one, has an ego.  Tarkin makes his speech about how events will,
from now on, be decided by this battle station.  Vader says "As the Emperor
wills it, so shall it be."  The book says "If any present found Vader's
tone disrespectful, a glance at the gagging Tagge was enough to dissuade
them from mentioning it."  (In the movie, it was someone else, not Tagge,
that got it in the neck.  But I digress.)  The implication, IMHO, is that
Vader's tone was disrespectful to the Emperor.  Can you imagine Vader being
disrespectful to the Emperor we all know from ROTJ?  And just after the
destruction of Alderaan, Vader contemplates a map of the galaxy, noting that
the use of the Empire's most powerful weapon had had little effect upon that
map.  He considers himself the greatest being on that map, and not just out
of ego - he wishes there was someone with whom he could share his grand
vision and plans.

>Apparently the Empire doesnt have as tight a grip as many of us think.
>The support of several worlds (one of which *was* Alderaan) is given
>to the rebels throughout ANH and ROJ. (not much in ESB, though).

Of course.  Why else was the Death Star built?  There is no point in frying
a planet if it is mostly loyal, with an underground Rebel movement.  The
whole idea was that any world thinking of supporting the Alliance would
have to consider that it might be the Empire's next new asteroid belt.

Incidentally, although it may not be canon, there is a nice essay about
Tarkin's reasoning behind the Death Star - in fact, it's supposed to be
his communique to Palpatine proposing it - in West End's Imperial
Sourcebook.

-- 
 "Keyboard?  How quaint!" - M. Scott

 Adrian Hurt			     |	JANET:  adrian@uk.ac.hw.cs
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