To Yavin! (ANH 14/??)
May. 6th, 2012 03:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anghraineI meant to finish this by/for the fourth, but ... yeah, we know how my scheduling goes. Anyway, back to Obi-Wan's nonexistent corpse.
Luke, after his one woobietastic look, expresses his grief in appropriate Skywalker fashion: trying to kill everything that moves. Vader, puzzled, pokes at Obi-Wan's empty robes/deactivated lightsaber with his boot, while Han and Leia try to scream some sense into Luke. He ignores them and keep shooting stormtroopers, so Han, helping return fire, shouts at him to blast the door. One stormtrooper gets shot, but it's not clear whether it's Luke or Han who killed him. Given that Luke is closer and actively attacking, I'm inclined to think it's him.
Luke shoots the control panel, which lowers the door, blocking most of the stormtroopers and Vader. Vader has his lightsaber, though—it's the last thing we see as the door closes—so I'm not sure exactly hwo it's supposed to stop him. Maybe “cuts through everything” wasn't a feature yet; in fact, I'm not sure if we see that at any point before TPM? Hmm, wait and see, I guess. In-story … well, he does want them to escape.
Anyway, Luke remains insensible of any possible mortality and just keeps shooting at the remaining stormtroopers. He kills one, and somebody finally gets through to him—the disembodied voice of Obi-Wan, telling him to run. He seems startled to be hearing voices, but hurries into the ship after the others.
Han and Chewie dash into the cockpit, Han hoping that “the old man” managed to get the tractor beam out of commission … before dying, y'know. Priorities! We see the Falcon take off from behind a viewscreen of some kind—presumably Tarkin and Vader watching to make sure everything's going according to plan—and it does manage to fly away. Hurrah!
Luke is sitting at the game table, clearly traumatized; he seems a bit dazed and just traces the table patterns with his fingertip. :(
Threepio manages to look sympathetic. Artoo coos. (I can't really describe it in any other way.) Leia shows up from behind him and drapes a blanket around his shoulders.
Okay, stopping a moment here to address some major peeves. But not with the movie. People complain a lot about this moment—but not, say, that suddenly!maternal Leia is OOC or anything. I mean, it's actually not OOC at all, but that's a complaint that might actually make sense at this point in the story. But no.
The thing people complain about is that Luke is so heartless and selfish as to be traumatized in the presence of someone who has suffered more than he has. Leia saw her planet destroyed whereas Luke merely saw his mentor killed before his eyes. Therefore, he should time his breakdown for when she's not around.
What.
Accompanying this are some odd assumptions (which I've talked about before, but as that was like two years ago, I'll refresh). First, that Luke didn't actually know Obi-Wan until his rescue from the Sand People; that the entirety of ANH takes place over the course of a single day; and that Owen and Beru are Luke's real parents. That is to say, Luke is criticized for grieving over a mentor he only met that day, doing so in the vicinity of a woman who just witnessed the genocide of her planet, and for grieving that mentor more than his own parents.
These are all really, really odd to me. Luke clearly identifies “old Ben” before leaving the homestead, and recognizes him by name almost the instant he regains consciousness. I think it's much more probable that Luke already knows Obi-Wan—not well, certainly, but they're acquainted.
Secondly, I think it's extremely improbable that ANH occurs in a single day. Time tends to be very fuzzy in SW, but the first time we see Leia after her torture is when Vader brings her to Tarkin. She seems in perfectly good health at that point (without a hair out of place!). I see no reason to assume that this scene takes place immediately after being tortured. Moreover, her “information” causes Tarkin to send Imperial troops to Dantooine. They have made the trip, discovered and searched the abandoned Rebel base, returned to the Death Star and made their report, all before the Falcon reached the Alderaan system. I really don't think that all happened in one day.
Thirdly, the comparison with Owen and Beru is just bizarre, because they scarcely appear and we don't actually know that much about their relationship with Luke. In fandom, they tend to be demonized or elevated to sainthood, but what do we know?
They care for Luke. They didn't adopt Luke to the extent the Organas did Leia; Luke has Anakin's name and a distinct sense of himself as Anakin's son. His mile-wide daddy issues are focused on Anakin before and after Owen's death. He will later identify Padmé as his and Leia's “real” mother. He cares for Owen and Beru, he exhibits clear loyalty to them, he's concerned for their welfare, devastated and then enraged by their deaths. Owen is worried for and by him, where Beru seems cheerfully resigned to his inevitable departure. And that's all.
It honestly isn't that much. But I think it's ridiculous to blame him for being upset in the immediate aftermath of Obi-Wan's death, because he may or may not have had good reasons to be close to him, or because he is not shown grieving for guardians he may or may not have been particularly close to, but whose deaths he did not personally witness in any case. And I think it's particularly ridiculous to blame him for being upset at that moment because Leia was nearby.
Back to the story. Han issues some orders to Chewie and goes to charge up the main guns, whatever that means. Back to the twins, sad Force theme music is playing while Leia strokes Luke's back.
LUKE: I...can't believe he's gone.
LEIA: There wasn't anything you could have done.
That's exactly what Obi-Wan said about Owen and Beru, isn't it? I would say she missed her calling as a Jedi Master, but ...
Anyway, I do think it's pretty awesome that Leia, who has lost so much, has the heart to reach out to a fellow sufferer just because. Just like I don't really get the idea that Luke is always calm and gentle and compassionate by nature, I don't get the idea that Leia is naturally devoid of the same qualities. I mean, we actually see her being all zen and supportive—extraordinarily so, in the circumstances.
(Leia: making compassion hardcore since 1977.)
I don't know, maybe people don't much watch these scenes. Maybe they think it's part of the fussy protective thing Luke and Leia have towards each other, so says less about her than about their relationship. Mostly, though, I suspect that a pretty young princess being angry and fierce and badass is very noticeable, but when she's soothing and supportive, it's so completely non-salient that it doesn't even register as characterization.
So, Han interrupts them.
HAN: Come on, buddy, we're not out of this yet.
Yeah, Han has definitely warmed up to him. And, I assume, remembers Luke saying he could pilot all the way back in the cantina. Luke and Leia are both o_O and then rush after him, Luke hurrying up the ladder while Leia runs into a different room. Luke and Han settle into the spinny chairs at the guns and put on their headsets. Ooh, it's the dogfight!
HAN: You in, kid? Okay, stay sharp!
“Kid” appears to now be a term of endearment.
Luke, with a distinct air of authority, flips some switches; it's becoming evident that when he boasted in the cantina that he was an adequate pilot (...oh, sweetie), he was not actually exaggerating. Rather the opposite. And it's all of thirty seconds since he was grieving over Obi-Wan, but now, disassociating splendidly, he's got his serious IMMA KILL SOME IMPERIALS face on.
Admittedly, this is his usual response to grief.
Leia, meanwhile, is with Chewie while incredibly complex graphics appear on the ship's computer.
Yeah, just a touch dated. I've always sort of wondered why the new releases edit some really, really trivial things, like rocks in a cave, and then leave shitty 70s computer graphics. I don't know—it's one thing for people who think the 1977 release was a cultural product and should be made available in a cleaned-up modern form but otherwise left alone, but for the others who I imagine are the actual target audience...what's the appeal of “whoooo moving squares”? Nostalgia, maybe. I guess it's just something you have to grow up with—when I first watched the OT in 2002ish, it was one of the few things that jarred me out.
Leia announces incoming attacks by some Imperialcanon-fodder pilots, there are a few more creaky graphics, ships fly around, lights flicker in Artoo and Threepio's room, Han and Luke swing back and forth in their chairs, shooting and missing. Luke, ever the optimist, says the Imperials are too fast, Artoo and Threepio creep out and something blows up near them—it's all loud and panicked and hectic, as it should be. Perfect editing.
Marcia Lucas & Co totally deserved their Oscars.
Leia, who appears to have appointed herself the communications officer, shouts that lateral controls are gone.
HAN: Don't worry, she'll hold together.
Something explodes and starts burning. He looks anxiously around.
HAN: Baby, hold together.
Han/Falcon OTP = y/y?
This moment is just perfectly him: brash confidence but self-aware enough to know it's a front, and just hoping his wits and his ship will carry him and Chewie through. Well, him and Chewie and Luke. And presumably Leia. Racking up the personal attachments there, Han.
Artoo promptly demonstrates that he missed his calling as a fire extinguisher, spraying something over the fire that douses it. Seriously, what can't he do?
The music is at all full throttle now and we're jerking between Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Threepio, the Imperial ship and back again. Han shoots down one of the ships and crows loudly. Luke shoots down another and is clearly in his element.
<3 <3 <3
LUKE: Got him! I got him!
HAN: Great, kid! Don't get cocky!
…
…
Sorry, I was busy cackling at the idea of Han telling anyone not to get cocky. Much less Luke, who appears to have a very loose grasp on what bragging even is.
Leia keeps them updated and they keep shooting—the earlier fragmented approach seems to have steadied a little on the three of them. Leia is very sober and very alert and likewise seems completely in her element; Luke is wide-eyed, biting his lip in concentration, and generally adorable; Han is just blowing shit up. Up Gryffindor!
Luke gleefully blows up another TIE fighter, Han grins and blasts the last one, which explodes in a burst of orange, pink, and lime-green. Uh, okay.
Han heaves this massive sigh of relief and yanks off his headset; Luke, following suit, is beaming.
LUKE: That's it! We did it!
LEIA: We did it!
Twins, you say? Nah, couldn't be!
(I bet they'd be the disconcerting chorusing kind if they'd been brought up together—all the more because their telepathy seems to strengthen as they get more attached to each other. And if they'd been brought up by Vader, with the Dark Side . . . I can only imagine how incredibly creepy they'd be.And awesome.)
Leia hugs Chewie, which is especially nice since she was initially so nasty to him. (I love Leia, but even fantasy!racial slurs are not cool.)
Switch to Threepio, still tangled in the wiring. He glares at Artoo.
THREEPIO: Help! I think I'm melting! ...this is all your fault.
ARTOO: *beep*
Threepio as the Wicked Witch of the West: fandom gods, please make this happen.
Seriously, though, there's only a brief moment of Threepio being … Threepio and then we zoom out to the Falcon flying to freedom. Another reason Threepio works, perhaps; once the story gets going, he's firmly consigned to the periphery, with just these brief comic glimpses.
And then, WHOOSH. Vader walks up to an ambivalent-looking Tarkin and announces that the Falcon has made the jump into hyperspace.
TARKIN: Are you sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship?
DUN DUN DUN.
I actually really like how the villainous plot comes out. First you've got Tarkin fruitlessly blowing up Alderaan, and then Vader's “I told you so! But I HAVE A PLAN.” And then we're left to stew, since we switch to the rescue-the-princess plot right then, and it's so ZAP! BOOM! BANG! WHEEEEEE that we pretty much forget about Vader's plotting altogether, and we get that moment of squee and then bam! We're not just reminded that there is one, we finally get an explanation of what it is, and discover that our daring heroes have just fallen into it. Yeah, those stormtroopers and pilots that they defeated? Died for the cause.
TARKIN: I'm taking an awful risk, Vader. This had better work.
Yes, he is taking an awful risk. Just not the one he thinks he is.
Heh.
Aaaaand back to the Falcon, Han and Leia are in the cockpit (I think?) together; Han looks smug, Leia skeptical.
HAN: Not a bad bit of rescuing, huh?
Yes, she had nothing to do with them getting alive. Leia says nothing, just side-eyes him.
HAN: You know, sometimes I even amaze myself.
LOLOLOLOL
I actually rolled my eyes in real life.
LEIA, unimpressed: That doesn't sound too hard.
Burn.
Also, her wobbly accent is settling into a middle American zone. I think my favourite theory was that all human languages are represented as English, but that there are actually several, and Leia switching accents is actually her switching languages, from some kind of Imperial Latin thing to Basic. Annnyway.
She shakes her head.
LEIA: They let us go. It's the only explanation for the ease of our escape.
And Leia figures out Vader's cunning plan (which is actually a good one) within what—forty seconds?
It's a little thing that goes by quickly, but I actually like this on a lot of levels. First, that Leia isn't just fierce but smart. It takes her what, forty seconds to figure this out? MY QUEEN. Second, that she regards their assorted near-death experiences as an easy escape, where Han and Luke don't—it says something about how living within the Empire and then spying for the Rebellion has given her a much higher bar for “difficult” than even Han's career with Jabba. Given that they are actually dealing with the Empire, it makes sense that her interpretation is the more (i.e., completely) accurate one. It's like, guys, maybe you should listen to the Imperial Senator, hmm? And, the plan is Vader's—clever and low-risk in contrast to the Empire's, ah, usual approach—so it's not just that Leia is on the Imperial wavelength; she's on Vader's specifically. Retroactive squee!
Also, I love Leia's super-intense face here:
(LOL at her indestructible makeup, though.)
HAN: Easy?! You call that easy?
LEIA: They're tracking us.
HAN: Not this ship, sister.
Han is (understandably) less savvy than Leia, news at eleven. But I'm not sure why the Falcon is supposed to be so unbuggable—I mean, obviously they had no trouble doing it, so he's simply wrong . . . or has the idea of a tracking device not occurred to him and he's just thinking of outflying them somehow? I don't know.
Leia just rolls her eyes, then, shaking her head, looks thoughtful and says she hopes Artoo's information is okay. Han, still snapping, wants to know what's so important about it, and Leia explains that it's the technical readouts of the Death Star—which we already knew, though so much has happened since then that it's probably useful to reiterate it. They're just hoping that a weakness can be found: given that she knows they're being tracked, she's pinning the survival of the Rebellion on that hope.
Well, you can't say she's not daring, anyway. “Only you could be so bold”? Yeah, whatever, Leia.
LEIA: It's not over yet.
I will never again hear this line in anything, ever, without thinking of Lucius Malfoy and the Death Eaters.
HAN: It is for me, sister!
The fact that Han calls her “sister” never ceases to amuse me.
Also, I think Harrison Ford generally does a great job with Han, but his reading of this line is really, really wooden. However, he promptly makes up for it with:
HAN: Look, I ain't in this for your revolution, and I'm not in it for you, princess. I expect to be well paid. I'm in it for the money!
He's all rough and callous and finger-pointy, but there's a definite vibe of the-gentleman-doth-protest-too-much. Also, classic line (that became a TV Tropes page), but not a repeated one.
Leia, on the other hand, is superficially calm, but clearly angry.
LEIA: You needn't worry about your reward. If money is all that you love, then that's what you'll receive.
More words of wisdom from Master Organa! I love that she manages to make it sound like a threat.
She gets up and stalks away, just like Luke did when they first broke into the Death Star. Actually, the dynamic here reminds me a lot of that scene. Han, the lovable rogue, is all dashingly selfish and Luke is indignant and contemptuous. Leia is harder and (much, much, much) savvier than Luke, but dig very far and you find the same reckless, determined idealism.
<3
Speaking of whom, he's coming in the door and Leia just about stalks right into his chest. Luke looks bewildered.
LEIA: Your friend is quite the mercenary. I wonder if he really cares about anything . . . or anybody.
I'm never quite sure if this is just another jab at Han, or if “anybody” is actually a (not very) veiled reference to Luke himself. That is, Han may act like Luke's friend, but he isn't really. That itself could also be a jab at Han, or a warning to Luke, or everything all mixed up together. She begins with a disdainful glance at Han, but then she focuses on Luke and speaks in tones of doom.
LUKE: I care!
And I'm not sure if this is a sort of vague, awkward flirting (“I care about you”) or if he simply doesn't want to be lumped in with the disgraced Han (“Well, I'm not like that!”) In any case, it's quite possibly the most accurate statement he ever utters. Luke cares about pretty much every single person in his life, and the cause, and personal ethics, and . . . well, he cares.
Han just stares straight ahead, looking unhappy. Emotional conflict ftw!
Luke peers after Leia as she sweeps out, and with a bemused look around, sits down in Leia's seat. Then he glances up at Han, a little tentatively. This is really the point where I think we see what the relationship looks like from Luke's side—we've seen all the changes from Han, but Luke was distracted by, y'know, stormtroopers and things. It looks like his initial outrage and annoyance has moved towards camaraderie and a touch of hero-worship. <3
LUKE: So . . . what do you think of her, Han?
His expression is cute—like he's looking for approval, though also feeling him out a bit, trying to figure out what Han and Leia's relationship is looking like. Obviously it was originally meant to build up Luke/Leia a bit, but this is one of those scenes that's really easy to see through the slash goggles.
Han busies himself with the controls.
HAN: I'm trying not to, kid.
LUKE, smiling slightly: Good.
Han has some great expressions here—first surprised, then as he glances away, amused, and finally this great playing-it-cool look. He peers over his shoulder at the door Leia left through.
HAN: Still . . . she's got a lot of spirit.
Luke slowly raises his gaze, and side-eyes him like whoa. Han ignores him and just has a flawless trollface.
HAN: I don't know, what do you think? D'you think a princess and a guy like me . . .
LUKE, shaking his head firmly: No.
LOL!
Han eyes him and Luke broods at the control panel. This might be more effective if his hair wasn't so lulzy. In any case, Han's reaction is beautiful:
BROTP
It's like a weird inverse of the ESB kiss, where it's mostly Luke and Leia going “so there” at Han—here he's definitely interested in Leia, but mostly using it to troll Luke.
So many ships, so little time.
Switch to the, well, actual ship, flying towards a swirly reddish-orange planet. Sort of Jupiter-ish . . . it looks pretty inhospitable. Oh, the Falcon flies around it, towards a large, blueish moon. Right, the planet's a gas giant, isn't it?
This whole sequence just looks super-cool. I always loved the idea of awesome adventures and heroic quests and stuff happening on those awesome places that were always coming back from Hubble and whatnot, but I never found a game that actually looked anywhere near as awesome as real life astronomy until Star Trek Online. Star Wars, though, has pretty much always been that, only with a shinier plot and more interesting characters and seriously, no matter how many things I find to complain about, I just love it.
So we follow the Falcon as it approaches the moon, which likewise looks super shiny:
It flies lower, over a lovely verdant forest, and a guy in a tower—a Rebel, by his uniform—aims a … blaster at them? Yeah, I'm sure that'll be really useful against a STARSHIP. Maybe it's binoculars? Then he lowers it and the Falcon heads down towards a stone building.
It's Yavin! After one hour, thirty-eight minutes, twenty-eight seconds of screentime, we have finally arrived at the Rebel base.
Death tolls!
DARTH VADER
KILLS: 3 (Rebel guy; Anakin Skywalker; Obi-Wan Kenobi, in a duel)
OTHER: betrayed the Jedi; helped the Empire hunt down them down; tortured Princess Leia; choked Admiral Motti; bugged the Falcon
HAN SOLO
KILLS: 11ish (Greedo, seven nameless stormtroopers, gantry officer's aide)
OTHER: smuggler; works for the crime lord Jabba; shot at a bunch of stormtroopers
PRINCESS LEIA
KILLS: 2 (nameless stormtroopers)
OTHER: spy, sorta; politician; shot at a bunch of stormtroopers
LUKE SKYWALKER
KILLS: 6ish (nameless stormtroopers, TIE fighters)
OTHER: whines sometimes, shot at people
GOVERNOR TARKIN
KILLS: billions (every occupant of the planet Alderaan)
OTHER: ordered the execution of Princess Leia
CHEWBACCA
KILLS: 2 (gantry officer; unnamed officer; shot at people)
Summary
(1) Processing grief via homicidal rampage is apparently a family trait.
(2) Leia is very zen and supportive, at least with Luke, and periodically comes out with words of wisdom.
(3) When Luke tried to brag in the cantina that he wasn't "such a bad pilot," he was, if anything, underestimating his actual skill.
(4) The Falcon's graphics are very, very dated.
(5) The editing of the dogfight is flawless.
(6) Vader's plan finally emerges: bug the Falcon, let them escape with enough of a fight to keep them from suspecting (it doesn't work with Leia - your fault for inflicting more Skywalkers on the galaxy, Anakin), and then they can follow them to their destination, presumably the Rebel base. It's a good plan and without the aforementioned supergenetics-biting-back, would have worked.
(7) Leia is every bit as much of an idealist as Luke, and every bit as offended by Han's selfishness.
(8) Luke and Han seem to have settled into a comfortable camaraderie on both sides; Luke seems to vaguely look up to Han and Han seems to find Luke's earnestness endearing (and entertaining).
Luke, after his one woobietastic look, expresses his grief in appropriate Skywalker fashion: trying to kill everything that moves. Vader, puzzled, pokes at Obi-Wan's empty robes/deactivated lightsaber with his boot, while Han and Leia try to scream some sense into Luke. He ignores them and keep shooting stormtroopers, so Han, helping return fire, shouts at him to blast the door. One stormtrooper gets shot, but it's not clear whether it's Luke or Han who killed him. Given that Luke is closer and actively attacking, I'm inclined to think it's him.
Luke shoots the control panel, which lowers the door, blocking most of the stormtroopers and Vader. Vader has his lightsaber, though—it's the last thing we see as the door closes—so I'm not sure exactly hwo it's supposed to stop him. Maybe “cuts through everything” wasn't a feature yet; in fact, I'm not sure if we see that at any point before TPM? Hmm, wait and see, I guess. In-story … well, he does want them to escape.
Anyway, Luke remains insensible of any possible mortality and just keeps shooting at the remaining stormtroopers. He kills one, and somebody finally gets through to him—the disembodied voice of Obi-Wan, telling him to run. He seems startled to be hearing voices, but hurries into the ship after the others.
Han and Chewie dash into the cockpit, Han hoping that “the old man” managed to get the tractor beam out of commission … before dying, y'know. Priorities! We see the Falcon take off from behind a viewscreen of some kind—presumably Tarkin and Vader watching to make sure everything's going according to plan—and it does manage to fly away. Hurrah!
Luke is sitting at the game table, clearly traumatized; he seems a bit dazed and just traces the table patterns with his fingertip. :(
Threepio manages to look sympathetic. Artoo coos. (I can't really describe it in any other way.) Leia shows up from behind him and drapes a blanket around his shoulders.
Okay, stopping a moment here to address some major peeves. But not with the movie. People complain a lot about this moment—but not, say, that suddenly!maternal Leia is OOC or anything. I mean, it's actually not OOC at all, but that's a complaint that might actually make sense at this point in the story. But no.
The thing people complain about is that Luke is so heartless and selfish as to be traumatized in the presence of someone who has suffered more than he has. Leia saw her planet destroyed whereas Luke merely saw his mentor killed before his eyes. Therefore, he should time his breakdown for when she's not around.
What.
Accompanying this are some odd assumptions (which I've talked about before, but as that was like two years ago, I'll refresh). First, that Luke didn't actually know Obi-Wan until his rescue from the Sand People; that the entirety of ANH takes place over the course of a single day; and that Owen and Beru are Luke's real parents. That is to say, Luke is criticized for grieving over a mentor he only met that day, doing so in the vicinity of a woman who just witnessed the genocide of her planet, and for grieving that mentor more than his own parents.
These are all really, really odd to me. Luke clearly identifies “old Ben” before leaving the homestead, and recognizes him by name almost the instant he regains consciousness. I think it's much more probable that Luke already knows Obi-Wan—not well, certainly, but they're acquainted.
Secondly, I think it's extremely improbable that ANH occurs in a single day. Time tends to be very fuzzy in SW, but the first time we see Leia after her torture is when Vader brings her to Tarkin. She seems in perfectly good health at that point (without a hair out of place!). I see no reason to assume that this scene takes place immediately after being tortured. Moreover, her “information” causes Tarkin to send Imperial troops to Dantooine. They have made the trip, discovered and searched the abandoned Rebel base, returned to the Death Star and made their report, all before the Falcon reached the Alderaan system. I really don't think that all happened in one day.
Thirdly, the comparison with Owen and Beru is just bizarre, because they scarcely appear and we don't actually know that much about their relationship with Luke. In fandom, they tend to be demonized or elevated to sainthood, but what do we know?
They care for Luke. They didn't adopt Luke to the extent the Organas did Leia; Luke has Anakin's name and a distinct sense of himself as Anakin's son. His mile-wide daddy issues are focused on Anakin before and after Owen's death. He will later identify Padmé as his and Leia's “real” mother. He cares for Owen and Beru, he exhibits clear loyalty to them, he's concerned for their welfare, devastated and then enraged by their deaths. Owen is worried for and by him, where Beru seems cheerfully resigned to his inevitable departure. And that's all.
It honestly isn't that much. But I think it's ridiculous to blame him for being upset in the immediate aftermath of Obi-Wan's death, because he may or may not have had good reasons to be close to him, or because he is not shown grieving for guardians he may or may not have been particularly close to, but whose deaths he did not personally witness in any case. And I think it's particularly ridiculous to blame him for being upset at that moment because Leia was nearby.
Back to the story. Han issues some orders to Chewie and goes to charge up the main guns, whatever that means. Back to the twins, sad Force theme music is playing while Leia strokes Luke's back.
LUKE: I...can't believe he's gone.
LEIA: There wasn't anything you could have done.
That's exactly what Obi-Wan said about Owen and Beru, isn't it? I would say she missed her calling as a Jedi Master, but ...
Anyway, I do think it's pretty awesome that Leia, who has lost so much, has the heart to reach out to a fellow sufferer just because. Just like I don't really get the idea that Luke is always calm and gentle and compassionate by nature, I don't get the idea that Leia is naturally devoid of the same qualities. I mean, we actually see her being all zen and supportive—extraordinarily so, in the circumstances.
(Leia: making compassion hardcore since 1977.)
I don't know, maybe people don't much watch these scenes. Maybe they think it's part of the fussy protective thing Luke and Leia have towards each other, so says less about her than about their relationship. Mostly, though, I suspect that a pretty young princess being angry and fierce and badass is very noticeable, but when she's soothing and supportive, it's so completely non-salient that it doesn't even register as characterization.
So, Han interrupts them.
HAN: Come on, buddy, we're not out of this yet.
Yeah, Han has definitely warmed up to him. And, I assume, remembers Luke saying he could pilot all the way back in the cantina. Luke and Leia are both o_O and then rush after him, Luke hurrying up the ladder while Leia runs into a different room. Luke and Han settle into the spinny chairs at the guns and put on their headsets. Ooh, it's the dogfight!
HAN: You in, kid? Okay, stay sharp!
“Kid” appears to now be a term of endearment.
Luke, with a distinct air of authority, flips some switches; it's becoming evident that when he boasted in the cantina that he was an adequate pilot (...oh, sweetie), he was not actually exaggerating. Rather the opposite. And it's all of thirty seconds since he was grieving over Obi-Wan, but now, disassociating splendidly, he's got his serious IMMA KILL SOME IMPERIALS face on.
Admittedly, this is his usual response to grief.
Leia, meanwhile, is with Chewie while incredibly complex graphics appear on the ship's computer.
Yeah, just a touch dated. I've always sort of wondered why the new releases edit some really, really trivial things, like rocks in a cave, and then leave shitty 70s computer graphics. I don't know—it's one thing for people who think the 1977 release was a cultural product and should be made available in a cleaned-up modern form but otherwise left alone, but for the others who I imagine are the actual target audience...what's the appeal of “whoooo moving squares”? Nostalgia, maybe. I guess it's just something you have to grow up with—when I first watched the OT in 2002ish, it was one of the few things that jarred me out.
Leia announces incoming attacks by some Imperial
Marcia Lucas & Co totally deserved their Oscars.
Leia, who appears to have appointed herself the communications officer, shouts that lateral controls are gone.
HAN: Don't worry, she'll hold together.
Something explodes and starts burning. He looks anxiously around.
HAN: Baby, hold together.
Han/Falcon OTP = y/y?
This moment is just perfectly him: brash confidence but self-aware enough to know it's a front, and just hoping his wits and his ship will carry him and Chewie through. Well, him and Chewie and Luke. And presumably Leia. Racking up the personal attachments there, Han.
Artoo promptly demonstrates that he missed his calling as a fire extinguisher, spraying something over the fire that douses it. Seriously, what can't he do?
The music is at all full throttle now and we're jerking between Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Threepio, the Imperial ship and back again. Han shoots down one of the ships and crows loudly. Luke shoots down another and is clearly in his element.
<3 <3 <3
LUKE: Got him! I got him!
HAN: Great, kid! Don't get cocky!
…
…
Sorry, I was busy cackling at the idea of Han telling anyone not to get cocky. Much less Luke, who appears to have a very loose grasp on what bragging even is.
Leia keeps them updated and they keep shooting—the earlier fragmented approach seems to have steadied a little on the three of them. Leia is very sober and very alert and likewise seems completely in her element; Luke is wide-eyed, biting his lip in concentration, and generally adorable; Han is just blowing shit up. Up Gryffindor!
Luke gleefully blows up another TIE fighter, Han grins and blasts the last one, which explodes in a burst of orange, pink, and lime-green. Uh, okay.
Han heaves this massive sigh of relief and yanks off his headset; Luke, following suit, is beaming.
LUKE: That's it! We did it!
LEIA: We did it!
Twins, you say? Nah, couldn't be!
(I bet they'd be the disconcerting chorusing kind if they'd been brought up together—all the more because their telepathy seems to strengthen as they get more attached to each other. And if they'd been brought up by Vader, with the Dark Side . . . I can only imagine how incredibly creepy they'd be.
Leia hugs Chewie, which is especially nice since she was initially so nasty to him. (I love Leia, but even fantasy!racial slurs are not cool.)
Switch to Threepio, still tangled in the wiring. He glares at Artoo.
THREEPIO: Help! I think I'm melting! ...this is all your fault.
ARTOO: *beep*
Threepio as the Wicked Witch of the West: fandom gods, please make this happen.
Seriously, though, there's only a brief moment of Threepio being … Threepio and then we zoom out to the Falcon flying to freedom. Another reason Threepio works, perhaps; once the story gets going, he's firmly consigned to the periphery, with just these brief comic glimpses.
And then, WHOOSH. Vader walks up to an ambivalent-looking Tarkin and announces that the Falcon has made the jump into hyperspace.
TARKIN: Are you sure the homing beacon is secure aboard their ship?
DUN DUN DUN.
I actually really like how the villainous plot comes out. First you've got Tarkin fruitlessly blowing up Alderaan, and then Vader's “I told you so! But I HAVE A PLAN.” And then we're left to stew, since we switch to the rescue-the-princess plot right then, and it's so ZAP! BOOM! BANG! WHEEEEEE that we pretty much forget about Vader's plotting altogether, and we get that moment of squee and then bam! We're not just reminded that there is one, we finally get an explanation of what it is, and discover that our daring heroes have just fallen into it. Yeah, those stormtroopers and pilots that they defeated? Died for the cause.
TARKIN: I'm taking an awful risk, Vader. This had better work.
Yes, he is taking an awful risk. Just not the one he thinks he is.
Heh.
Aaaaand back to the Falcon, Han and Leia are in the cockpit (I think?) together; Han looks smug, Leia skeptical.
HAN: Not a bad bit of rescuing, huh?
Yes, she had nothing to do with them getting alive. Leia says nothing, just side-eyes him.
HAN: You know, sometimes I even amaze myself.
LOLOLOLOL
I actually rolled my eyes in real life.
LEIA, unimpressed: That doesn't sound too hard.
Burn.
Also, her wobbly accent is settling into a middle American zone. I think my favourite theory was that all human languages are represented as English, but that there are actually several, and Leia switching accents is actually her switching languages, from some kind of Imperial Latin thing to Basic. Annnyway.
She shakes her head.
LEIA: They let us go. It's the only explanation for the ease of our escape.
And Leia figures out Vader's cunning plan (which is actually a good one) within what—forty seconds?
It's a little thing that goes by quickly, but I actually like this on a lot of levels. First, that Leia isn't just fierce but smart. It takes her what, forty seconds to figure this out? MY QUEEN. Second, that she regards their assorted near-death experiences as an easy escape, where Han and Luke don't—it says something about how living within the Empire and then spying for the Rebellion has given her a much higher bar for “difficult” than even Han's career with Jabba. Given that they are actually dealing with the Empire, it makes sense that her interpretation is the more (i.e., completely) accurate one. It's like, guys, maybe you should listen to the Imperial Senator, hmm? And, the plan is Vader's—clever and low-risk in contrast to the Empire's, ah, usual approach—so it's not just that Leia is on the Imperial wavelength; she's on Vader's specifically. Retroactive squee!
Also, I love Leia's super-intense face here:
(LOL at her indestructible makeup, though.)
HAN: Easy?! You call that easy?
LEIA: They're tracking us.
HAN: Not this ship, sister.
Han is (understandably) less savvy than Leia, news at eleven. But I'm not sure why the Falcon is supposed to be so unbuggable—I mean, obviously they had no trouble doing it, so he's simply wrong . . . or has the idea of a tracking device not occurred to him and he's just thinking of outflying them somehow? I don't know.
Leia just rolls her eyes, then, shaking her head, looks thoughtful and says she hopes Artoo's information is okay. Han, still snapping, wants to know what's so important about it, and Leia explains that it's the technical readouts of the Death Star—which we already knew, though so much has happened since then that it's probably useful to reiterate it. They're just hoping that a weakness can be found: given that she knows they're being tracked, she's pinning the survival of the Rebellion on that hope.
Well, you can't say she's not daring, anyway. “Only you could be so bold”? Yeah, whatever, Leia.
LEIA: It's not over yet.
I will never again hear this line in anything, ever, without thinking of Lucius Malfoy and the Death Eaters.
HAN: It is for me, sister!
The fact that Han calls her “sister” never ceases to amuse me.
Also, I think Harrison Ford generally does a great job with Han, but his reading of this line is really, really wooden. However, he promptly makes up for it with:
HAN: Look, I ain't in this for your revolution, and I'm not in it for you, princess. I expect to be well paid. I'm in it for the money!
He's all rough and callous and finger-pointy, but there's a definite vibe of the-gentleman-doth-protest-too-much. Also, classic line (that became a TV Tropes page), but not a repeated one.
Leia, on the other hand, is superficially calm, but clearly angry.
LEIA: You needn't worry about your reward. If money is all that you love, then that's what you'll receive.
More words of wisdom from Master Organa! I love that she manages to make it sound like a threat.
She gets up and stalks away, just like Luke did when they first broke into the Death Star. Actually, the dynamic here reminds me a lot of that scene. Han, the lovable rogue, is all dashingly selfish and Luke is indignant and contemptuous. Leia is harder and (much, much, much) savvier than Luke, but dig very far and you find the same reckless, determined idealism.
<3
Speaking of whom, he's coming in the door and Leia just about stalks right into his chest. Luke looks bewildered.
LEIA: Your friend is quite the mercenary. I wonder if he really cares about anything . . . or anybody.
I'm never quite sure if this is just another jab at Han, or if “anybody” is actually a (not very) veiled reference to Luke himself. That is, Han may act like Luke's friend, but he isn't really. That itself could also be a jab at Han, or a warning to Luke, or everything all mixed up together. She begins with a disdainful glance at Han, but then she focuses on Luke and speaks in tones of doom.
LUKE: I care!
And I'm not sure if this is a sort of vague, awkward flirting (“I care about you”) or if he simply doesn't want to be lumped in with the disgraced Han (“Well, I'm not like that!”) In any case, it's quite possibly the most accurate statement he ever utters. Luke cares about pretty much every single person in his life, and the cause, and personal ethics, and . . . well, he cares.
Han just stares straight ahead, looking unhappy. Emotional conflict ftw!
Luke peers after Leia as she sweeps out, and with a bemused look around, sits down in Leia's seat. Then he glances up at Han, a little tentatively. This is really the point where I think we see what the relationship looks like from Luke's side—we've seen all the changes from Han, but Luke was distracted by, y'know, stormtroopers and things. It looks like his initial outrage and annoyance has moved towards camaraderie and a touch of hero-worship. <3
LUKE: So . . . what do you think of her, Han?
His expression is cute—like he's looking for approval, though also feeling him out a bit, trying to figure out what Han and Leia's relationship is looking like. Obviously it was originally meant to build up Luke/Leia a bit, but this is one of those scenes that's really easy to see through the slash goggles.
Han busies himself with the controls.
HAN: I'm trying not to, kid.
LUKE, smiling slightly: Good.
Han has some great expressions here—first surprised, then as he glances away, amused, and finally this great playing-it-cool look. He peers over his shoulder at the door Leia left through.
HAN: Still . . . she's got a lot of spirit.
Luke slowly raises his gaze, and side-eyes him like whoa. Han ignores him and just has a flawless trollface.
HAN: I don't know, what do you think? D'you think a princess and a guy like me . . .
LUKE, shaking his head firmly: No.
LOL!
Han eyes him and Luke broods at the control panel. This might be more effective if his hair wasn't so lulzy. In any case, Han's reaction is beautiful:
BROTP
It's like a weird inverse of the ESB kiss, where it's mostly Luke and Leia going “so there” at Han—here he's definitely interested in Leia, but mostly using it to troll Luke.
So many ships, so little time.
Switch to the, well, actual ship, flying towards a swirly reddish-orange planet. Sort of Jupiter-ish . . . it looks pretty inhospitable. Oh, the Falcon flies around it, towards a large, blueish moon. Right, the planet's a gas giant, isn't it?
This whole sequence just looks super-cool. I always loved the idea of awesome adventures and heroic quests and stuff happening on those awesome places that were always coming back from Hubble and whatnot, but I never found a game that actually looked anywhere near as awesome as real life astronomy until Star Trek Online. Star Wars, though, has pretty much always been that, only with a shinier plot and more interesting characters and seriously, no matter how many things I find to complain about, I just love it.
So we follow the Falcon as it approaches the moon, which likewise looks super shiny:
It flies lower, over a lovely verdant forest, and a guy in a tower—a Rebel, by his uniform—aims a … blaster at them? Yeah, I'm sure that'll be really useful against a STARSHIP. Maybe it's binoculars? Then he lowers it and the Falcon heads down towards a stone building.
It's Yavin! After one hour, thirty-eight minutes, twenty-eight seconds of screentime, we have finally arrived at the Rebel base.
Death tolls!
DARTH VADER
KILLS: 3 (Rebel guy; Anakin Skywalker; Obi-Wan Kenobi, in a duel)
OTHER: betrayed the Jedi; helped the Empire hunt down them down; tortured Princess Leia; choked Admiral Motti; bugged the Falcon
HAN SOLO
KILLS: 11ish (Greedo, seven nameless stormtroopers, gantry officer's aide)
OTHER: smuggler; works for the crime lord Jabba; shot at a bunch of stormtroopers
PRINCESS LEIA
KILLS: 2 (nameless stormtroopers)
OTHER: spy, sorta; politician; shot at a bunch of stormtroopers
LUKE SKYWALKER
KILLS: 6ish (nameless stormtroopers, TIE fighters)
OTHER: whines sometimes, shot at people
GOVERNOR TARKIN
KILLS: billions (every occupant of the planet Alderaan)
OTHER: ordered the execution of Princess Leia
CHEWBACCA
KILLS: 2 (gantry officer; unnamed officer; shot at people)
Summary
(1) Processing grief via homicidal rampage is apparently a family trait.
(2) Leia is very zen and supportive, at least with Luke, and periodically comes out with words of wisdom.
(3) When Luke tried to brag in the cantina that he wasn't "such a bad pilot," he was, if anything, underestimating his actual skill.
(4) The Falcon's graphics are very, very dated.
(5) The editing of the dogfight is flawless.
(6) Vader's plan finally emerges: bug the Falcon, let them escape with enough of a fight to keep them from suspecting (it doesn't work with Leia - your fault for inflicting more Skywalkers on the galaxy, Anakin), and then they can follow them to their destination, presumably the Rebel base. It's a good plan and without the aforementioned supergenetics-biting-back, would have worked.
(7) Leia is every bit as much of an idealist as Luke, and every bit as offended by Han's selfishness.
(8) Luke and Han seem to have settled into a comfortable camaraderie on both sides; Luke seems to vaguely look up to Han and Han seems to find Luke's earnestness endearing (and entertaining).
no subject
on 2012-05-14 03:26 am (UTC)It's a blast door, presumably pretty solid. In TPM, when Qui-Gon tries to cut through the doors to get onto the bridge of the Trade Federation ship at the beginning, his lightsaber can cut through them but it takes time. Which he eventually runs out of. For all we know, Vader burst through that blast door seconds after Luke runs up the ramp, too late to do anything as the Falcon escapes.
And with this on DW, I can use one of my other SW icons!
no subject
on 2012-05-18 02:43 am (UTC)Re: the doors - Yeah, it's possible. It seems to me like the door closing stops him dead (and I was looking at it in more of a meta than an in-story sense, though I jump back and forth between them a lot), but since we don't see what happens next, it's not hard to work with, continuity wise. I did remember later that lightsabers cutting through metal is a thing from at least as early as ROTJ (when Luke loses it on the Death Star) and probably from the duel in ESB.
no subject
on 2012-05-18 03:22 am (UTC)But yes, lightsabers cut through metal in the duel in ESB. Well, at least Vader's does, he cuts through the post next to Luke when he cuts off Luke's hand. But when the big hunks of equipment are flying at Luke a few minutes earlier, he bats at them with his lightsaber and they don't seem to be cut through, more deflected. Handwave.
no subject
on 2012-05-18 03:51 am (UTC)Hmm, maybe it has something to do with the Jedi's expertise or attunement to the Force or something, since Luke's does go right through metal in ROTJ. It'd make lightsabers more mystical than they're usually treated, though. Maybe. Yeah, probably easiest to handwave that.