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| Chewbacca growls out, "Hey, why didn't I get a medal too?!" |
Why The Throne Room Finale In Star Wars: A New Hope Makes Absolutely No Sense
By C.W. Roden
By C.W. Roden
If there's anyone on this planet that hasn't watched the original 1977 Star Wars film, officially titled: Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, then I suggest that you crawl out from under that rock you've been living under, find a copy, and watch it through to the end in order to get the context of the issue I'm about to discuss.
For the rest of you Star Wars and sci-fi/fantasy/adventure fans who live and breathe fandom and geek culture stuff, this one's for y'all.
Following the destruction of the first Death Star by Luke Skywalker (with assistance from Han Solo and his Wookie copilot, Chewbacca) the remaining Rebel Alliance pilots of Red and Gold Squadrons (all three of them!) return to the now-not-so-secret Rebel Alliance base on the moon orbiting the planet Yavin IV. There they are greeted by the jubilant Alliance leaders, the landing bay crews, Rebel officers, and Princess Leia Organa.
It was a hard-fought and costly victory that pretty much wiped out all but a few of the Alliance's best star pilots and wounded the droid R2-D2 who would need major repairs. None-the-less, they overcame what some considered the ultimate destructive superweapon in the galaxy, and wiped out a good number of high ranking Imperial officers -- including the dreaded Imperial Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin.
The destruction of the first Death Star was, for all intents and purposes, the turning point of the Galactic Civil War. This of course leads up to probably the most memorable final scene of the film: the Royal Award Ceremony Scene.
The first time any of us Gen-X kids who grew up in the late 70s and early 80s saw this scene, it was truly a moment to behold as far as happy endings go. Luke, Han, and Chewie walking down a long throne room with rows of neatly-dressed Rebel Alliance soldiers and pilots (yeah where the hell were they when the Death Star showed up!) to the outstanding Throne Room & Finale soundtrack score by the legendary composer John Williams. There our conquering heroes meet Princess Leia and the two shinny droids C-3PO and R2-D2, now fully repaired. Leia puts two large, Olympic-sized gold medals around Luke and Han necks -- seemingly forgetting that Chewie was also there for reasons that still baffled us Gen-Xers -- and after applause (and a growl from Chewie), the movie goes to its closing credits and classic Star Wars ending theme plays.
The end....well at least until Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. The evil Galactic Empire is defeated, a million Imperial officers and soldiers dead, the Rebel Alliance score a major victory and avenge the destruction of Princess Leia's home planet of Alderran. Happy and satisfying ending for all those watching, right?
At least it was in the context of watching just the first film in what would become over the course of now 45 years possibly the largest sci-fi/fantasy franchise in history. A franchise which would expand into ten major blockbuster films (and Solo: A Star Wars Story) several animated series, Disney+ originals, an expanded (Legends) universe that spans more than a thousands books and novels of all types.
As someone who is a life-long major fan of this expanded universe and who'd spent far more time that I care to admit reading and consuming all things Star Wars and thinking about the events that took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away; looking back now at the finale of Star Wars A New Hope and that throne room finale scene I have to point out that the entire scene, if applied to a real-life situation, would make absolutely no sense at all.
The planet-killing Death Star might have been the "ultimate power in the universe" next to the power of The Force, but it was far from being the only major weapon in the Galactic Empire's arsenal. Sure a great deal of time and effort was made into creating it to secure the absolute control of the Emperor and his minions over the galaxy, but it didn't represent all of the Empire's strength.
The Empire had a massive space navy made up of over thousands of massive Imperial Star Destroyers, several Super Star Destroyers, and even more smaller capital ships of various classes that were capable of imposing the will of the Emperor on most of the galaxy's thousands of inhabited star systems. Even with the Death Star gone, that powerful space force was still out there and on high alert.
Now lets assume for the moment that, once he tracked the Millennium Falcon to Yavin IV, the commander of the Death Star, Grand Moff Tarkin, was so caught up on the idea of destroying the rebellion with one smooth stroke that he failed to contract Imperial command on Coruscant of the location of the Rebel's hidden fortress -- highly unlikely given the man's almost slavish adherence to proper protocol. Let's also assume that Darth Vader himself didn't immediately contact his Sith master, Darth Sidious (aka Emperor Sheev Palpatine) to also inform him of the situation -- again not very likely.
Even assuming that both Imperials believed they had on hand a force strong enough to finish off the Rebel Alliance (despite knowing that the rebels had obtained technical plans on the massive superweapon complete with a possible means of damaging, or destroying it) the odds would have been good that Tarkin and Vader would have both appraised the rest of the Empire as to what was going on and where the hidden Rebel base was located.
Now then, lets assume for the sake of argument that neither Tarkin, nor Vader, informed the Empire of the eminent destruction of the Rebel Alliance. The Death Star is destroyed, but Darth Vader still gets away in his Advanced Tie-Fighter (which according to official schematics and canon lore, was equipped with hyperdrive technology) he goes to the nearest Imperial outpost and contacts the Imperial Navy.
Now, I will admit that the distances and time it takes for a ship in hyperspace to travel varies depending on several factors, including navigating around hazards like supernovas, or asteroid fields in space and other technical mumbo-jumbo that involves parsecs somehow. Either way it would only have taken Vader a couple of hours to reach some planet with an Imperial presence where he can get in touch with the fleet and have them make all possible speed to Yavin IV to get the Rebels while they are still high on their victory.
Perhaps it wouldn't have even taken that long.
Almost certainly the Emperor himself would have sensed the destruction of the Death Star and the massive shift in the Force itself right away as Obi-wan had when Alderran was destroyed. He might have suspected what happened and already alerted the Imperial fleet to be ready. Assuming he did not know the location of the Rebel base, he would certainly have known through the Force that his Sith apprentice was still alive and awaited him making contact with the Empire's armed forces standing by and battle ready.
Again we are only talking about a difference of a few hours at best. Hours that our Rebel friends do not have on their side -- never mind having time to buff up two droids (fully repairing one of them), put on fresh clothes and formal attire, and hold a major awards ceremony. I mean seriously, did Leia have those medals on standby just in case their little Hail Mary plan actually worked? Maybe that explains why there were only two and Chewie got shafted? Oh and never mind Wedge Antilles and that unnamed Y-Wing pilot who survived the slaughter of Red and Gold Squadrons, I mean they should have gotten something for keeping the Tie Fighters off our heroes backs, right?
No matter what, the Rebels had to hurry the hell up and evacuate the now no longer secret moon base before the Imperial Navy suddenly pops out of hyperspace and bombards the entire moon into space dust.
While I'm certain the Alliance had some sort of plan for a possible quick evacuation in case the Empire somehow found them, such an evacuation would have still taken a considerable amount of time to happen, especially moving much needed equipment and personnel to transports. Almost certainly several hours, if not an entire day, to move all the needed supplies to relocate to another base. And that's only if they'd started out the moment they greeted Luke and Han when they landed.
So, knowing all this, the Rebels that had been hiding from the full might of the Galactic Empire for over a decade at this point, actually paused to take the time to have an awards ceremony; knowing that at any given moment the sky overhead would be filled with Imperial Star Destroyers full of very pissed off space fascists ready to avenge the destruction of their new toy?
Sure Luke managed to single-handed launch two proton torpedoes down a two meter wide, Womprat-sized exhaust port with a defective reactor (courtesy of the late Galen Erso); but I doubt even Luke would have had the ability to fight off an entire Imperial fleet in Red Five and give the rest of the Alliance time to evacuate before half a dozen Star Destroyers turned that temple into a rock pile. Nor could he have fought the hundreds of Tie Fighters and Tie Interceptors that so many Star Destroyers could have undoubtedly launched and brought to bear on our favorite Tatooine farm boy.
Strong he is with the Force....but not that strong. Not yet anyhow. Even with Han supporting him and maybe Wedge and the Y-Wing pilot (both of whom had to have been wiped from their recent near-death experiences and had no Force abilities), four ships against several hundred Tie Fighters and maybe Star Destroyers are still long odds indeed.
As much as I hate to say it, this is where Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017) gets something right. (Pardon me while I have to go take a shower after having said that!) The movie picks up mere hours right at the end of Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), with the First Order fleet arriving as the last of the Resistance transports flee their own hidden base right as it is being wiped out from orbit. Even then the Resistance didn't really get away before being nearly wiped out in what is probably the slowest space chases in cinema history.
In the final analysis, the Rebel Alliance forces on Yavin IV simply didn't have the time to pause and give out awards, they had to get the hell out of there before the Empire showed up and made them all as dead as Alderran. Even then they faced some very daunting prospects in escaping, although fighting a rear-guard action to allow the transports to get away might be easier for Luke and the remaining pilots. I could still see the body count for the Rebels being quite high.
What do y'all think of my breakdown and analysis of the strategic situation of the Rebel Alliance following the epic Battle of Yavin? Please let me know in the comments section below. Thank you and May The Force Be With Y'all, Always!
For the rest of you Star Wars and sci-fi/fantasy/adventure fans who live and breathe fandom and geek culture stuff, this one's for y'all.
Following the destruction of the first Death Star by Luke Skywalker (with assistance from Han Solo and his Wookie copilot, Chewbacca) the remaining Rebel Alliance pilots of Red and Gold Squadrons (all three of them!) return to the now-not-so-secret Rebel Alliance base on the moon orbiting the planet Yavin IV. There they are greeted by the jubilant Alliance leaders, the landing bay crews, Rebel officers, and Princess Leia Organa.
It was a hard-fought and costly victory that pretty much wiped out all but a few of the Alliance's best star pilots and wounded the droid R2-D2 who would need major repairs. None-the-less, they overcame what some considered the ultimate destructive superweapon in the galaxy, and wiped out a good number of high ranking Imperial officers -- including the dreaded Imperial Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin.
The destruction of the first Death Star was, for all intents and purposes, the turning point of the Galactic Civil War. This of course leads up to probably the most memorable final scene of the film: the Royal Award Ceremony Scene.
The first time any of us Gen-X kids who grew up in the late 70s and early 80s saw this scene, it was truly a moment to behold as far as happy endings go. Luke, Han, and Chewie walking down a long throne room with rows of neatly-dressed Rebel Alliance soldiers and pilots (yeah where the hell were they when the Death Star showed up!) to the outstanding Throne Room & Finale soundtrack score by the legendary composer John Williams. There our conquering heroes meet Princess Leia and the two shinny droids C-3PO and R2-D2, now fully repaired. Leia puts two large, Olympic-sized gold medals around Luke and Han necks -- seemingly forgetting that Chewie was also there for reasons that still baffled us Gen-Xers -- and after applause (and a growl from Chewie), the movie goes to its closing credits and classic Star Wars ending theme plays.
The end....well at least until Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. The evil Galactic Empire is defeated, a million Imperial officers and soldiers dead, the Rebel Alliance score a major victory and avenge the destruction of Princess Leia's home planet of Alderran. Happy and satisfying ending for all those watching, right?
At least it was in the context of watching just the first film in what would become over the course of now 45 years possibly the largest sci-fi/fantasy franchise in history. A franchise which would expand into ten major blockbuster films (and Solo: A Star Wars Story) several animated series, Disney+ originals, an expanded (Legends) universe that spans more than a thousands books and novels of all types.
 |
| The whole time Han was thinking: I hope that Jabba doesn't mind waiting for his money. |
As someone who is a life-long major fan of this expanded universe and who'd spent far more time that I care to admit reading and consuming all things Star Wars and thinking about the events that took place a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away; looking back now at the finale of Star Wars A New Hope and that throne room finale scene I have to point out that the entire scene, if applied to a real-life situation, would make absolutely no sense at all.
The planet-killing Death Star might have been the "ultimate power in the universe" next to the power of The Force, but it was far from being the only major weapon in the Galactic Empire's arsenal. Sure a great deal of time and effort was made into creating it to secure the absolute control of the Emperor and his minions over the galaxy, but it didn't represent all of the Empire's strength.
The Empire had a massive space navy made up of over thousands of massive Imperial Star Destroyers, several Super Star Destroyers, and even more smaller capital ships of various classes that were capable of imposing the will of the Emperor on most of the galaxy's thousands of inhabited star systems. Even with the Death Star gone, that powerful space force was still out there and on high alert.
Now lets assume for the moment that, once he tracked the Millennium Falcon to Yavin IV, the commander of the Death Star, Grand Moff Tarkin, was so caught up on the idea of destroying the rebellion with one smooth stroke that he failed to contract Imperial command on Coruscant of the location of the Rebel's hidden fortress -- highly unlikely given the man's almost slavish adherence to proper protocol. Let's also assume that Darth Vader himself didn't immediately contact his Sith master, Darth Sidious (aka Emperor Sheev Palpatine) to also inform him of the situation -- again not very likely.
Even assuming that both Imperials believed they had on hand a force strong enough to finish off the Rebel Alliance (despite knowing that the rebels had obtained technical plans on the massive superweapon complete with a possible means of damaging, or destroying it) the odds would have been good that Tarkin and Vader would have both appraised the rest of the Empire as to what was going on and where the hidden Rebel base was located.
Now then, lets assume for the sake of argument that neither Tarkin, nor Vader, informed the Empire of the eminent destruction of the Rebel Alliance. The Death Star is destroyed, but Darth Vader still gets away in his Advanced Tie-Fighter (which according to official schematics and canon lore, was equipped with hyperdrive technology) he goes to the nearest Imperial outpost and contacts the Imperial Navy.
Now, I will admit that the distances and time it takes for a ship in hyperspace to travel varies depending on several factors, including navigating around hazards like supernovas, or asteroid fields in space and other technical mumbo-jumbo that involves parsecs somehow. Either way it would only have taken Vader a couple of hours to reach some planet with an Imperial presence where he can get in touch with the fleet and have them make all possible speed to Yavin IV to get the Rebels while they are still high on their victory.
Perhaps it wouldn't have even taken that long.
Almost certainly the Emperor himself would have sensed the destruction of the Death Star and the massive shift in the Force itself right away as Obi-wan had when Alderran was destroyed. He might have suspected what happened and already alerted the Imperial fleet to be ready. Assuming he did not know the location of the Rebel base, he would certainly have known through the Force that his Sith apprentice was still alive and awaited him making contact with the Empire's armed forces standing by and battle ready.
Again we are only talking about a difference of a few hours at best. Hours that our Rebel friends do not have on their side -- never mind having time to buff up two droids (fully repairing one of them), put on fresh clothes and formal attire, and hold a major awards ceremony. I mean seriously, did Leia have those medals on standby just in case their little Hail Mary plan actually worked? Maybe that explains why there were only two and Chewie got shafted? Oh and never mind Wedge Antilles and that unnamed Y-Wing pilot who survived the slaughter of Red and Gold Squadrons, I mean they should have gotten something for keeping the Tie Fighters off our heroes backs, right?
No matter what, the Rebels had to hurry the hell up and evacuate the now no longer secret moon base before the Imperial Navy suddenly pops out of hyperspace and bombards the entire moon into space dust.
While I'm certain the Alliance had some sort of plan for a possible quick evacuation in case the Empire somehow found them, such an evacuation would have still taken a considerable amount of time to happen, especially moving much needed equipment and personnel to transports. Almost certainly several hours, if not an entire day, to move all the needed supplies to relocate to another base. And that's only if they'd started out the moment they greeted Luke and Han when they landed.
So, knowing all this, the Rebels that had been hiding from the full might of the Galactic Empire for over a decade at this point, actually paused to take the time to have an awards ceremony; knowing that at any given moment the sky overhead would be filled with Imperial Star Destroyers full of very pissed off space fascists ready to avenge the destruction of their new toy?
Sure Luke managed to single-handed launch two proton torpedoes down a two meter wide, Womprat-sized exhaust port with a defective reactor (courtesy of the late Galen Erso); but I doubt even Luke would have had the ability to fight off an entire Imperial fleet in Red Five and give the rest of the Alliance time to evacuate before half a dozen Star Destroyers turned that temple into a rock pile. Nor could he have fought the hundreds of Tie Fighters and Tie Interceptors that so many Star Destroyers could have undoubtedly launched and brought to bear on our favorite Tatooine farm boy.
Strong he is with the Force....but not that strong. Not yet anyhow. Even with Han supporting him and maybe Wedge and the Y-Wing pilot (both of whom had to have been wiped from their recent near-death experiences and had no Force abilities), four ships against several hundred Tie Fighters and maybe Star Destroyers are still long odds indeed.
As much as I hate to say it, this is where Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi (2017) gets something right. (Pardon me while I have to go take a shower after having said that!) The movie picks up mere hours right at the end of Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), with the First Order fleet arriving as the last of the Resistance transports flee their own hidden base right as it is being wiped out from orbit. Even then the Resistance didn't really get away before being nearly wiped out in what is probably the slowest space chases in cinema history.
In the final analysis, the Rebel Alliance forces on Yavin IV simply didn't have the time to pause and give out awards, they had to get the hell out of there before the Empire showed up and made them all as dead as Alderran. Even then they faced some very daunting prospects in escaping, although fighting a rear-guard action to allow the transports to get away might be easier for Luke and the remaining pilots. I could still see the body count for the Rebels being quite high.
What do y'all think of my breakdown and analysis of the strategic situation of the Rebel Alliance following the epic Battle of Yavin? Please let me know in the comments section below. Thank you and May The Force Be With Y'all, Always!
A special thanks to the awesome folks at wookieepedia for helping out with the information with this article.
1 comment:
Well C.W. the primary flaw in your thesis is that, from a Donald Trumpian Poly-dimensional Game Theory perspective, the Throne Room scene makes perfect sense.
In the War Between the States, how many Confederate Officers and Soldiers earned their increases in rank which were in some way handed out in some emergency impromptu ceremony? Was that not also a 'Rebel' Alliance that was being indirectly honored in the Star Wars Throne Room? In what year was the US citizenship of Robert E. Lee restored by the Imperial Senate of these United States? Weren't the earliest conFederated Star Ship metaphors the Overseas National Airways bicentennial planes that were all decked out in their 1776-1976 finery?
You forget my dear Professor Roden that George Lucas new all about Captain Kirk's Star Fleet confederacy along with its rules to earning promotions in the Sci/Fi game.
Would you really be willing to follow a field promoted General Chewie into the breach of oncoming fire?
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