Yukaphile wrote: ↑Mon Oct 22, 2018 3:12 am
IIRC, there was an old EU book dedicated to discussing how some Rebel agent on Imperial Center rigged the cameras so the crowds could celebrate the Emperor's death, and then was horrified when the stormtroopers came in to predictably slaughter them all.
Basically all I read of the EU were the X-Wing novels, and I liked them overall, though the Allston ones were more entertaining than the Stackpole ones.
Look, who's to say that getting eaten by a Rancor doesn't somehow immediately transform a person into a frog which is then eaten by Jabba? Star Wars is a strange place.
@SabreMau Ah, that's the one! I have all the X-wing books, just haven't gotten around to reading them.
@Wild_Kraken Again, that was what I thought as a kid.
"A culture's teachings - and more importantly, the nature of its people - achieve definition in conflict. They find themselves, or find themselves lacking."
— Kreia, Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords
cdrood wrote: ↑Mon Oct 22, 2018 3:26 am
I'd say a bigger problem in this film than the slave outfit is how it feels like Leia's been demoted once they get back to the Rebellion. Upon arriving on Yavin and on Hoth, she's in command center, clearly treated as a leader.
Here, she seems like a common soldier, at best. She's sitting in the crowd wearing the same kind of uniform as everyone else. She isn't even in on the choice of Han to run the ground assault. Then again, she's simply someone under his command. Previously, she was shown as an important political and then military leader.
Those weren't common soldiers; those were Admirals, Generals, Commanders and political leaders. Both Han and Lando had been promoted to high rank with her. Just because you take the lead in one setting doesn't mean you won't sit down and listen in another.
She's bossed around on Hoth at times as well, such as Han literally dragging her away from the command station. Han also reported to a General who was implied to be above her, given how formally he addressed him vs how he always speak with her.
Her portrayal is largely consistent. She is always in a command position, but she was never the one in charge. Her actual rank in the Rebellion was never firmly established but it was never implied that she was one of the absolute top leaders. On Hoth she was giving out instructions to fighter pilots and on Yavin IV she was standing to the side while an expert discussed the Death Star and it's weaknesses. She was probably upper-management at best. And she volunteered to be subordinate to Han for that particular mission, as did Luke and Chewie.
Wargriffin wrote: ↑Mon Oct 22, 2018 9:39 am
I'd say the Vong left an impression... in how decisive they were, A truly alien threat... yeah by the end of it they kinda just ignored the Force Immunity thing and just made Force Lightning the go too offensive power for everybody but I appreciate what they were attempting with the Vong
As Far as Imperial Remnants go... outside of the Crazed Moff of the Week thing going on in the books
Thrawn was the Last Hurrah and was The First Major Post ROTJ element
Ice Heart was basically the last time the Imperials had a competent leaders
while the rest of them were Tarkin lite or... well Admiral Daala
It was either Sith Ghosts, Cults or New bizarre aliens
The Emperor Clone thing started and ended with Dark Empire and Palpy being literally dragged to Force Hell by the spirit of a Jedi Knight from the past
But Yeah there was this inability to move on from Luke, Leia and Han to the point the Next Generation were being slaughtered to prove how much the three were still needed.
Ultimately the EU stumbled once the Vong arc was wrapped up and should have just been yet another bunch of individual duologys or stand alone adventures. instead we got yet another war after war and then Jacen turned into Vader 2.0
Well Gilad Pellaeon was competent and sane but he seems to be the exemption.
Though if anything it seems with Pellaeon it sort of seemed like he pretty much often was the only reason there was a Imperial Remnants surviving in spite of at times its leadership, the council of moffs, the warlords, the new republic and pretty much everything else in the star wars galaxy.
Never good enough to defeat the republic but apparently good enough to keep the imperial remnants alive and conduct reforms in what was left of the empire once he was in charge.
Of course he never got to retire given they kept dragging him out of retirement until he finally got murdered instead of dying of old age.
Vong were like a combination of Muslim extremists mixed with Species 8472. DEATH TO THE ALIEN INFIDELS!
"A culture's teachings - and more importantly, the nature of its people - achieve definition in conflict. They find themselves, or find themselves lacking."
— Kreia, Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords
On the subject of Jabba, Leia, and the slave bikini, I must respectfully disagree with Chuck. Leia was not diminished by it at all, in fact quite the contrary. While it may be true that Jabba was trying to make a submissive slave girl of her by putting her in that outfit, the fact that she ultimately strangled him to death with the very chain leash he put around her neck stands as proof that he failed.
Speaking of which, Leia killing him in that fashion was quite a feat since Hutts have very thick, muscular necks. Might she have unwitting tapped into some dark side energies in that moment?
Last edited by PapaPalpatine on Tue Oct 23, 2018 10:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
My impression of Leia the character in those scenes was neither that she was diminished nor that she was getting some sort of triumph over Jabba by killing for attempting it.
Rather, I thought she looked mildly annoyed at worst. Like, the whole thing was just an irritating inconvenience. She'd been tortured by the Empire, had to watch her entire planet and family die in front of her...and this fat slug wants to put her in a skimpy dress? Compared to all the other crap she's been through or fought against, this is just eye rollingly dumb.
In the novel, it said yes, she had been degraded so badly she was subconsciously calling on the Force. Jabba even... ugh... "offered" to her Boba one night as a reward for his loyalty, if you know what I mean. Yeah, that. Fett's honor code meant he wouldn't take someone against their will, so... thank God Leia wasn't raped. If not for that...
"A culture's teachings - and more importantly, the nature of its people - achieve definition in conflict. They find themselves, or find themselves lacking."
— Kreia, Knights of the Old Republic 2: The Sith Lords
I'm going to comment on something else regarding Lando that ties into this review and ESB.
Basically, in Empire, Lando's work with the Empire is not about the bottom line there, a lot of it was about responsibility.
At Cloud City, Lando wasn't a rebel, he wasn't a criminal, and he wasn't responsible for the heroes.
He was responsible for the population of Cloud City. He was the governor of it, and part of that job is to protect the people working and living there.
Yeah, it sucks that he turned in Han, Leia, Chewie, and Threepio...but he was attempting to protect the people he was charged with protecting. It wasn't until it became clear that Vader wasn't going to let him do that, that he switched sides.
Even before that, he had made a deal to protect his former friends, sure, Vader then modified the deal because he's both Vader and has a fleet there to kill everyone, but he still tried to do both.