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Star Wars IV: A New Hope
Latest Reflections from the Guild

It's been a while since I've seen this movie so I need to watch it again before I do a plot summary and nitpicking. However, John Latchem sent a list for each of the movies in the trilogy so I thought I'd start a file!

Reflections from the Guild

[Note from Phil: I have not verified these but they sounded good to me!]

John William Latchem: These nits are based on the Star Wars Trilogy Letterboxed Edition VHS Collectors set released in 1992.

Let me begin by saying that these are my favorite movies of all time. That being the case, you might think I'd find it hard to nitpick these movies. WRONG!

During the Imperial briefing, Admiral Motti is mouthing off to Vader. Just before Vader begins to choke him his lips do not match what he says.

When Obi-Wan cuts off the aliens arm, why isn't the wound caurterized like the Wampa's arm and Luke's hand in Empire Strikes Back?

Han leaves the Millennium Falcon cockpit and finds Obi-Wan teaching Luke how to use a lightsaber. Han announces that they will arrive at Alderaan at 0200 hours. Then, less than 3 minutes OF CONTINUOUS DIALOGUE later, the beeper indicates they've arrived at Alderaan. Why didn't Han just come out and say, "We'll be arriving at Alderaan in a few minutes."

On the Death Star, when R2-D2 puts the tractor beam location on screen, C-3PO provides an explanation. This explanation was not in the original release of the film and was added only a few years ago. It is easy to spot where the voiceover occurs.

Luke and Han are in a firefight in the Detention block, and they are talking to C-3PO over the comlink. C-3PO is interrupted by Stormtroopers at the door. So then he PUTS THE COMLINK DOWN and then HIDES IN THE CLOSET. Why bother dropping the comlink. On top of that, it is left on, and Luke is screaming into it, his voice clearly heard. He's lucky the Stormtroopers didn't hear it. Luckily Threepio picks it up but he TURNS IT OFF and FORGETS ABOUT IT. Not a good showing for Threepio.

Luke enters the garbage chute only a few seconds before Han, yet he claims he already tried to blast the door. Han's blasting the door lasted longer than the few seconds which would have elapsed between Luke's and Han's landings.

A struggling Luke completely disappears under knee-high water?

Leia tells Han to follow her orders. Han looks at Luke and Luke shakes his head. They start to walk and the shot changes and suddenly Luke has his hand on the back of his head.

Vader announces the Falcon has entered Hyperspace. The shot of Han and Leia on the Falcon just after the battle shows the ship in normal space. If the ship were in hyperspace the blue vortex seen in Return of the Jedi should be seen.

The technical readout of the Death Star that Artoo feeds into the Rebel computer show the Superlaser right along the trench. The actual Death Star has the Superlaser ABOVE the trench, in the northern hemisphere.

After Luke picks up a TIE on his tail, a controller at the Rebel base asks Red 6 if he can see Luke. Time to get scared since Red 6 was Porkins and he died a few minutes earlier.

The TIE fighters get a target lock and fire, but the lasers still sweep to find the target.

Luke switches off his targetting computer and there is a shot of Luke's fighter racing down the trench. There is nothing behind him. Then a point of view shot shows that Vader is right behind Luke.

Vader shoots Artoo, and Artoo begins to smoke. There is a reaction shot of Luke. Artoo is clearly visible behind him but is not smoking. The shot cuts back to Artoo who is still smoking.

At many times the Death Star computer announces a time until the Rebel base is in range ("one minute," "30 seconds," etc.). At each point, the actual time elapsed in the movie is a lot more than the time announced. The last 30 seconds take about a minute!

Who was in that Y-Wing that got away and what was he doing all that time?

After Luke jumps out of his fighter he sees Leia and yells "Carrie" (although the background noise drowns it out enough so it could pass as Luke saying "Hey!")

Christopher Pope: Why Ben didn't change Luke's last name to hide his identity?

Why does no one ever clean Artoo in the first movie? Luke never quite manages to clean him up after purchasing the droids, and it's not done in Ben's home. (Luke was busy repairing 3PO.) R2 rides dirty all the way to Alderaan, and he stays dirty during the flight from the Death Star to the Yavin base and all the time prior to the battle. In fact, during the attack on the Death Star, he's still dusty from his time on Tatooine! His only polishing is at the very end of the movie. However, in the next movie, Luke makes sure Artoo is squeaky clean (sorry about that pun) before rushing off to Bespin to save his friends' lives.

When our heroes are trapped in the cell bay, Leia's hair is out of place when she says, "This is some rescue." The shot changes, and a split second later, her hair's OK again.

A non-nit: Some have noted that you can't have A-wings, X-wings, and Y-wings named for their shape if these people don't use an English alphabet. First of all, the ships are not called by these names in the movies. (The term "snub fighters" is used.) Second, we do see English writing on the Death Star's tractor beam control station.

When "all wings" report in, there's no response from Red 4 or Red 8, but Red 4 (John D.) appears in the closing credits. Interestingly enough, his name's not in the script; I think he got most of Red 10's lines.

Anybody figure out the countdown clock on the Death Star screen? Yes, the spoken time to firing range is inconsistent on any scale, but the numbers don't make sense, either. They seem to be counting down seconds (00:30, 00:29, 00:28) when there are minutes remaining.

General Dodonna says, "A precise hit will start a chain reaction which should destroy the station." After Luke's precise hit, we see technicians aboard the Death Star going about business as usual (preparing to destroy planets, announcing "Stand by," etc.) and Tarkin looking rather pleased with himself as if nothing is wrong. Then, sall of an udden, the whole station explodes in an instant. Does this look like a chain reaction?

Bob Canada: I've also always wondered how a world without an English alphabet could have X-Wings, Y-Wings, A-Wings and B-Wings. Christopher Pope notes that no one actually calls the ships by these names in the movies. Well, maybe not in the first movie, but in ESB, as Luke approaches Bespin, one of Vader's men reports "Ship heading this way sir, X-Wing class." By the same token we shouldn't have names like C-3PO and R2-D2. Obviously the SW universe has a universal translator too. Or maybe their alien language just happens to have a few letters that look and are shaped exactly like ours.

When the Death Star is first approaching Yavin IV, doesn't the graphic of the approach make it look like it would have been shorter to go around the left side of the planet instead of the right?

At the beginning of the movie, just after Princess Leia gives R2 his message, 3PO says"There you are," and R2 plops down his middle leg & starts rolling forward. He's obviously not quite on track, and if they hadn't cut away when they did he'd have run right into the wall.

Do stormtroopers have ranks, and if so, how can you identify them? Granted, most of them are probably "grunts," but it seems like there'd have to be a sargeant or the occasional lieutenant to help keep them in line & on track. I can't see any indications of rank on their armor.

Jason Liu: (Note from Phil: Jason did say that all these came from memory and I might need to verify them but I've had a busy week!)

In the Cantina sequence, Ben and Luke meet Han and Chewie for the first time. Ben is concerned about whether their ship is fast enough. When Han asks, "You've never heard of the Millenium Falcon?", Ben replies, "Should I have?". Then Han says, "It's the one that made the Kessel run in [x] parsecs!" Parsecs?! Parsecs are a measure of distance, not time!

OK, so how did 3PO and R2 make it across that hallway in the corvette with a firefight going on, anyway?

I think this quote should be self-explanatory: "Only Imperial stormtroopers are so precise." (I never stop chuckling whenever I hear this one.)

When Luke practices his Force skills on the Falcon, Ben gives him a helmet with a blast shield down that obscures Luke's vision. What exactly would be the practical purpose of a blast shield like that? If you can't see, then you can't wear it down at all times. But, since when do explosions give you advance notice? There usually wouldn't be time to put down the shield. And if you're not facing the explosion, then there's the helmet anyway. Am I making any sense?

In this movie, people who don't know about Star Wars may get the wrong impression that Vader is under Tarkin, when of course, he is the Emperor's personal assistant.

During the battle, in true Farrand fashion, I timed the countdown. At several points, they announce the time remaining. I think they were correct at one point, but at all the others, the timing was off.

How did Luke become more important than Biggs or Wedge. They've been with the Alliance for a long time. Luke's been there for 3 days! So how come Luke gets to lead the final run? Why does Wedge follow his orders? (Note from Phil: No doubt they sensed Luke's Jediness!)

"What about those towers?" "You worry about the fighters, I'll take care of the towers!" Does he? Nope. (I know, I know, I'm sounding like a member of the Wedge Antilles Fan Club.)

OK, during the initial check-in right before the battle, every pilot checks in. Wouldn't it be much easier to go in numerical order? You know, like Red 2, then Red 3, then Red 4, etc. Instead, Red Leader has to think, "OK, that's Red 7, 11, 356, 279, 20, 3, 6, 17, and 2001. Where's Red 3.14, 21, 12, 5-" You get the idea.

Christopher Pope: Just before Porkins' ship explodes, Biggs tells him to eject. Somehow, I don't think that's a good idea, since he's only wearing a light flight suit. (My beard keeps me warm in the cold, but I doubt it would do much good in open space!)

Dave Kehler of Winnipeg, Manitoba: I've never understood what the use was of having the two wingmen right behind the leader during the Death Star trench run. Just to buy time with their lives?

Why not send in the leader, then have the wingmen wait for the TIE fighters to enter the trench then let the wingmen destroy the TIE fighters from behind. It just makes more sense to me but then you wouldn't have to have Han save the day.

Mario Bruzzone: All of these Star Wars nits are from the video box series.

At the beginning of the movie,where are C3P0 and R2D2 going?

When the stormtroopers are about to storm the ship, why does the second soldier on the viewer's left not line up in the doorway, but ducks into it only when the airlock is blown in? By standing in the hall, he obscures the 5th soldier's, on the viewers left,shot. Shouldn't he be a little bit better trained than that?

Besides exploding, what does stormtrooper armor do?

When stormtroopers round the corner, obviously neither side is well trained. Only one stormtrooper uses anything for cover (a wall).

Vader said to the stormtroopers:"I want those plans and bring me the passengers alive" Then the stormtrooper leader tells everyone to set for stun. Hmmm...Somebody let them skip out on training, eh?

Why not just use stun all the time? It would be a lot easier to hit people with those big blue circles and then just kill them point blank?

Later, after the droids jettison the escape pod. One of the stormtroopers says, "there was someone in the pod. The tracks go off in this direction." What happened to the other set of tracks that was created when the droids split up?

A stormtrooper says, "look sir, droids." Isn't that obvoius by R2D2's tripodial treads?

Was it me, or did one of the droids in the Jawa vehicle look like a trashcan with feet? (Note from Phil: A little joke no doubt!)

Why do C-3PO's eyes light up only at night or in the dark ? That would wreck any nightvision. (Note from Phil: Maybe it's some kind of laser vision technology?)

When Luke stares at the Tatooine sunset, he stares straight at the TWO SUNS. Wouldn't that hurt his eyes (us looking at one sun hurts our eyes, so imagine double the damage)?

One problem with Leia's hologram: It doesn't say who she is or who her father is.

During the Conference, Darth Vader has the amazing ability to talk forcefully and breath deeply at the same time.

In Mos Eisley, why don't the stormtrooper check the locked doors? Don't they realize that the droids aren't dumb as dirt?

The stormtrooper repeatedly imply that knocking on doors opens the doors in Mos Eisley.

Why does Luke wear long-sleeved shirts at midday at Mos Eisley? (My guess is that he doesn't realize its around 110 degrees)

Those "precise" Imperial stormtroopers couldn't hit anything when attacking the departing Falcon at the hangar.

When the Death Star had the Falcon in the tractor beam, it got pulled through a wall to go to it's docking bay.

Also when the Falcon was caught, their hangar bay changed shape (they were all square and the Falcon's was rectangular).

Are Luke and Han trying to be discovered as impostors? They keep changing their formation aroud Chewbacca.

If Leia notices that Luke is short for a stormtrooper, why doesn't anyone else?

In the detension block corridor, we see more "precise" stormtroopers in action.

Just before Han and Luke are about to go down the garbage chute, the Imps mysteriously stop shooting.

Why is Luke the only person in the trash compactor not trying to get to the top of the garbage heap?

How come no one noticed two driods in the hangar bay that weren't doing anything?

Another instance of those "precise" Imps is the fight in the docking bay.

On the Falcon, is Han shooting a relative straight up?We see Han shooting with the back of his chair to the ladder.

R2's readout of the Death Star is incorrect. R2's readout has the big laser in the center with the docking ring going through it while the death star has the big laser slanted toward the relative top.

On the D-Star's targeter, what were the numbers on the bottom right for?

The explosion of Porkins' X-wing and the first X-wing to be killed was the same.

Here's a conversation after the first failed run: "Gold 5 to Red Leader: lost [???], lost Hutch. "I copy, Gold LEADER." Mario Bruzzone-"huh?"

At the end ceremony, where did all the pilots come from? They all should've been sent out against the D-Star, and only 3 came back (Luke, Wedge, and unnamed Y-Wing pilot).

Reid Joiner of Arkadelphia, AR: What I can't beleive is that no one has mentioned the singular most hillarious nit of the trilogy. When the Stormtroopers enter the Docking Bay Control Room (while Luke & Co. are being crushed) watch the Stormie on the left. As he walks in the room, his head goes *BUMP* on the door. HAHAHAHAHA!!!!! Funny. ;)

I know there are numerous theories about this but I'll point it out: On the Tantive IV, 3PO mentions something about "the Princess". But when he sees Leia in the hologram, he doewsn't recognize her.

After the Red R2 unit blows up on Tatooine, there is a reaction shot of Artoo. Look closely and you'll notice it's from a minute or two before that.

Donald Carlson of Birmingham, AL: Jason Liu asked what the practical purpose of having an opaque blast shield on a helmet would be. There is one. On present day bombers the crew is given helmets with similar opaque shields -- to prevent them from being blinded by ordinance fired at night. The brilliant flare of a missile motor, or the bright plume of an incindiary dropped at low altitude, could cause temporary blindness (most certainly would effect night vision at any rate). The crew drops the blast shield just before release of the missile, or just as a bomb is released, then raises it again.

On B-52's and other heavy bombers, there are "blast curtains" installed. These are heavy, light-tight curtains that are used to protect the crew from the brilliant flare of a nuclear explosion.

Lucas was apparently basing the helmet in the movie on standard air force issue flight helmets, thus the blast shield.

Matthew Chiappardi: I got one...Tatoonie has two suns. First, can life as we know it exist in a binary star system. Wouldn't the extra heat, radiation, and gravity cause the planets to overheat, be unlivable, or crash into each other or the sun.

But lets assume life can exists in a binary system. Then, everyone should be casting two shadows. They don't. The LD set it all for realistic 'earth-like' shadow casting.

Seth Farrow: Regarding: "Gold 5 to Red Leader: lost [???], lost Hutch. "I copy, Gold LEADER"--One possible explanation to this is that Hutch or Tyree (I think this is "???"'s name) WAS Gold Leader, and that Gold 5 is now the highest ranking gold team member left. Only a theory, though.

Eric Lee Cline: I've gotta comment about the parsec nit. It's not one. Using the Nitpicker's Prime Directive, one CAN reference to the Star Wars novels (they're canon until Lucas himself contradicts them on film). In the novel "Jedi Academy," Han explains that Kessel is near a black hole cluster, and the closer you get to the cluster, the better your time is, SO the parsec reference is just a boast of boldness and skill (a 12 parsec trip gets almost as close as possible to the cluster.) (Note from Phil: Now there's an after-the-fact explanation if I ever heard one but it's works for me!)

Daniel B. Case: Here are some reactions to other people's nits:

Yes, I think life could possibly exist on an M-class planet in a binary system (It happens in Trek, after all). Tatooine's two suns seem pretty close, so the effect is mainly the increase in heat that makes Tatooine a desert (And yes, you can look at the setting suns for a bit longer if they're as filtered by the atmosphere as they are).

The major problem with nitpicking Star Wars is canonicity. With different cuts of the film, comic books, novels, novelizations and radio scripts, I think the rec.arts.sf.starwars FAQ says that only the three movies are definitely canonical -- but says you can make it up for yourself as to what of the other material is canonical. (The three movie novelizations contradict themselves on certain points, for one thing).

Getting that beyond us, it's accepted that Han's boasting about the Falcon making the Kessel Run in five parsecs was either a) a mistake of Lucas's in the script which Alan Dean Foster amends to "less than twelve standard timeparts" in the novelization (which actually, to be fair, preceded the movie by about six months) or b) a deliberate mistake that Lucas had Han make to show how blustery and boastful he is. Given what we later see about Han's practical knowledge of space and piloting, I'd say b) is a face-saving rationalization and go with either the other explanation or a).

In the radio scripts, I believe Threepio does, indeed, recognize Leia's image (I think it's also in the novelization) and says "She was a passenger of some note on our latest voyage."

Joseph Pintar: Great line: "Garbage chute. Really wonderful idea. What an incredible smell you discovered."

Try as I may, I can't figure out how R2D2 got away from Uncle Owen's farm without being easily tracked. R2 had to get up the stairs (not an easy feat for him)and away on sand where he leaves tracks. There is no sign of sandstorms to blow away the tracks. Luke and Threepio could have easily tracked him.

About this debate on parsecs in the conversation at the cantina. May I remind everyone that this is a galaxy far, far, away. A parsec could have an entirely different meaning in this galaxy than ours. Maybe Han's use of the word "parsac" is correct. So could Ben's use of the precise when it comes to stormtroopers aim. As many who have taken high school science knows, the word precise and accurate are not interchangeable. Precise is the number of times an observation appears and accuracy is the correctness of the observations.

About the stormtroopers' bad aim in the Death Star: the explanation is simple. Luke & Co. are simply using the force to make the stormtroopers aim go off target. (This movie trilogy is so great in that when all else fails, you can explain something by saying they used the force. Cool, huh.)

Ben explains the force to Luke after Ben mention that "Vader was seduced by the dark side of the force." All well and good except that Ben never explains the dark side of the force to Luke and Luke never asks about it. The light and dark side of the force is pretty basic material and doesn't require a Jedi master to explain.

Why doesn't anybody detect that R2D2 is searching through computer files and try to stop him? If this is standard imperial procedure to give the droids free access to the computer, it's no wonder that the Death Star plans got stolen in the first place.

Why do stormtroopers leave tracks that are side by side and not single file? I would think military personnel would know how to leave single file tracks.

In the conference scene, an admiral scorns the force. He better be careful when the Emperor is around because the Emperor is a master in the dark side of the force.

Why are the garbage chutes conveniently near the prison section? Is this a good design?

Lee Lorenz of Fenton, MI: With regards to the comments about X-, Y-, A- and B- wings and alien alphabets... Just because they are in a galaxy far, far away, or even a long time ago, doesn't mean it can't be ENGLISH. Consider this scenario... the story teller is actually in the far flung future, in a civilization no longer residing in the Milky Way (maybe we trash that in a few thousand years, polluting it with our warp drives -which leads to the cleaner hyperdrive, but alas too late!). Star Wars ends up playing our and our storyteller's people are either: a) from the milky way, but travelled to another galaxy, or b) not of the Star Wars races at all, but just observers.

In any case, the ENGLISH alphabet does show up in a few occasions, if I'm not mistaken. The names, too, are decidedly CHRISTIAN ("Luke", "Han","Owen").

Also, with regards to Han's explanation in Jedi Academy... I think that his original claim in SWIV *WAS A LIE* and any subsequent explaination was made up to cover his tracks. It's easy to see Luke and Obi Wan give Han a funny look when he makes his claim.

Josh Ethridge: Concerning Hans use of the word parsec: Perhaps Han meant exactly what he said and parsec IS a measure of distance in the SW universe. That would mean that the Millenium Falcon is so fast, that there is an actual dialation of space that makes the distance between two points shorter than they actually are. (Now that is fast)

Ann Cashin of LaPlata, MD: Minor thing that always drove me nuts. During the Death Star attack, Vader says of Luke: "The force is strong in this one," so we know the pros are attuned to this kind of thing. Earlier in the movie, when Vader brings Leia before Tarkin, he standing right in back of her. So, what's the deal? He can't pick up that the force is strong in her because she hasn't had x number of hours training from Obi Wan???

It also seems to me that if the Jedi are so finely attuned to vibes, that Vader might think "Hmmm... feels like I'm related to her..." Impact of the dark side, I guess.

From Someone Identified Only As "Not Applicable": I don't understand how people think that Stormtroopers are not precise. I mean, do you know how hard it is to miss somebody from ten feet away trapped on a little ledge with next to no real cover? Or miss a really big Corellian Transport?

I also find it kind of odd that the only elite Imperial Pilot on the entire Death Star is Vader. (Confused? Allow me to explain. Vader was flying a modified TIE Advanced x1. The TIE Advanced x1 is deployed to elite Imperial Pilots. Wouldn't it make sense to have more than one elite Imperial Pilot on the "ultimate power in the universe?)

In case you're wondering where that nit came from, it is from the Star Wars Customizable Card Game. LucasFilm has decreed that the lore section of the card is official Star Wars Lore! Therefore, the Vader TIE thing is indeed a nit.

Erin Hunt of High Point, NC: Matthew Chiappardi asks if life can exist on a planet orbiting two suns. In a word, YES. Scientists think a planet orbiting Alpha Centauri, a *trinary* star system, could be made habitable for humans, although not Earth-like, through terraforming. (Some of you may have read about that in the Star Trek book "Federation", but the writers didn't make it up. It's true.)

Alexander Shearer: On Mario Bruzzone's comment that:

"During the Conference, Darth Vader has the amazing ability to talk forcefully and breath deeply at the same time"

This isn't a legit nit. Vader /does/ breath while talking - due to his having been rebuilt. Note that there's no particularly canon source for the why of this, but I don't think it counts as a nit because it's not a mistake in this scene - Vader /always/ does this (it's one of the many things that makes him such a nifty villain).

Josh Ethridge: Joseph Pintar [wrote concerning the "coincidences" of this movie but] actually, a lot of these are not coincidences. Think about it. It was the job of Obi Wan to hide Luke and Leia from their father Annikan because it was clear he was falling to the Dark side. He put Leia under the care and protection of his Lord on Alderaan (I don't know his name). Since Vader was aware of Luke's existance, Obi Wan took Luke to an isolated planet. Obi Wan remained on Tatooine to protect Luke if Vader ever learned where he was. Now jump ahead to the beginning of Star Wars: A New Hope. The whole reason that Leia brought the ship to Tatooine was to find Obi Wan because Obi Wan was a Jedi Knight that served under HER foster father. It is all tied together in a very well written story. The only coincidence occurs when Owen (Luke's uncle) purchases Artoo and Threepio (thus allowing for Luke to follow Artoo to Ben's house).

Murray Leeder: Sandpeople are vicious and mean creatures with a penchant for killing things. So why is Luke's response to the knowledge of their presence "Oh good, let's go look at them"? A better response might be "Let's get out of here!"

Everyone talks about how the stormtroopers are really not the best elite forces you could find. Well, that's probably because there are a bunch of planets with signs that say "Kill All You Can Kill- Join the Imperial Stormtrooper Corps", and enlistment stations that take everyone. If they were smart and skilled, they'd be generals!

Justin Yeoman: According to an interview with George Lucas, ( I can't remember where I saw it), he considers the Movies, Radio Dramas, and Original Novels the only authoritative sources about the Star Wars universe. The radio drama helps explain a lot of references. I'll try to compile a detailed list later but here are just an example. When Princess Leia's ship is boarded by Darth Vader's Star Destroyer, he tells her she wasn't " on any mercy mission this time." This refers to a series of events that takes place days earlier, in which she went to a planet that was sympathetic to the rebels to deliver weapon power equipment and combat medical supplies to the rebels on that world. Unfortunately the Imperials had begun a "cleansing" to weed out the rebels. Vader confronted her there but because she was in a diplomatic ship, he could not board it. Days later she took her ship to another system under an Imperial crackdown, she did a close flyby and intercepted the plans for the Death Star. Because of this Vader now had reason to board her ship and confirmation of his suspicion she was a Rebel.

Shane Tourtellotte: I also have a Star Wars, Episode IV nit: The Force is with Kenobi during his duel, but the FX department isn't. He holds his saber toward the camera at one point, waving it in short circles. You can plainly see it's a plastic rod with a green light on the end. Someone forgot to put in the glowing saber effect.


If you would like to add some comments, drop me a note at chief@nitcentral.com. Please put the name of the movie in the Subject line and include your real name, city and state (or province and county as the case may be) in the body of the e-mail so I can give you credit if you are the first person to bring up a particular nit. (Remember the legalese: Everything you submit becomes mine and you grant me the right to use your name in any future publication by me. I will do my best to give you credit if you are the first person to submit a particular nit but I make no guarantees. And finally, due to the volume of mail received at Nitpicker Central, your submission may or may not be acknowledged.)

Copyright 1996 by Phil Farrand. All Rights Reserved.